


OK Doc

by betawho



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adventure, Gen, Historical, The Gunfighters, Western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2017-10-31 06:16:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/340861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betawho/pseuds/betawho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ninth Doctor gets to play cowboy as he and Rose accidentally end up back at the OK Corral only a few months after the First Doctor left. But something new is brewing in Tombstone, involving an ancient culture, a myth, a legend, and a bunny rabbit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Tardis materialized.

The Doctor stepped out and took a look around the small dusty courtyard. “Oh, _so_ not going to happen,” he muttered in disgust. He turned around. “Back inside, Rose,” he said, shooing her before him.

She sidestepped. “Why? What is it? What’s wrong?” She looked around the small cramped yard, tall wooden fencing blocked out any view to speak of, but it was hot, with a dry heat similar to a desert, and it smelled of animals and rotting garbage. She held her nose and looked over at the pile of moldering onions that stood at the back door of the ramshackle, clapboard building they’d apparently materialized behind. “It stinks.”

“Yes, it does,” he said, giving the words an ominous ring that indicated something more dire than onions.

Rose gave him a sour look as he again tried to use his body mass to herd her into the Tardis. She ducked around him, trotted over to the tall board fence, and found a knothole to peek through.

Beyond, was the long, dirt road, rough buildings, and wooden sidewalk of an Old West town.

“Brilliant!” she beamed and turned to the Doctor. “We’re in the Old West!”

He slumped and grumped, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Yes, and I’ve been here before. The whole experience gave me a toothache.”

“But, the Old West! Cowboys! Gunfights! We can’t just _leave!_ Come on,” she wheedled, sidling up to him grinning at him, her tongue peeking out as she peered up into his downturned face. She bumped him with her shoulder, “we’ve gotta look around. Please?”

He looked in her big brown eyes, and sighed. He was going to give in again. He knew it. She knew it. And he knew it was a horrible idea. Look what happened the last time. For all he knew he was still here somewhere, although it had been a long time ago. And he could swear this was the same courtyard. But had he already been here? Or was he yet to come?

“Please, Doctor?” She laid a hand on his arm, and he crumbled.

“Fine,” he barked. “But not dressed like that, you’d start a riot.”

 

“I’m not wearing that!” Rose protested as he held the vest out to her.

They were in the Tardise’s towering wardrobe room, spiral racks of clothes twining their way up into infinity. He held out the vest and shook it at her.

“You’re not going out there without it. It’s either this, or a forcefield,” he said.

“A bulletproof vest?”

“You said it yourself. Gunfights. Everyone out there is armed, and I’m not having you shot.”

“Well what about you?”

“I can regenerate, you can’t. Put it on.”

Rose sighed. She looked longingly at the long, sweeping, gingham dress she’d been stroking. With a sigh she took the heavy blue vest from him. It looked like something she’d see in an American cop show. She wouldn’t be surprised if it had NYPD stenciled on the back. (She quickly peeked to be sure. It didn’t.) But it was also a lot slimmer than she’d have expected. More high-tech looking somehow, but it would never fit under that dress.

The Doctor had pointedly turned away and was rifling through a rack of clothes on the other side of the room.

Rose grinned and started to unbutton her shirt. Here she was in the costume room, with the Doctor, about to get undressed. Her tongue peeked through her teeth as she grinned naughtily. This was a familiar scenario, although it was the first time she’d actually _been_ in here with him, she’d certainly _thought_ about it enough. There was just something about the idea of all these costumes...

She slipped off her jacket, rather more loudly than necessary, to make sure he could hear the slithery fabric sliding off.

“There’s a screen in the corner,” the Doctor said, without looking, still perusing the rack of clothes in front of him, he pointed to a large japanned screen to her left.

She peeked at him through her lashes as she fiddled with the buttons on her shirt. He still wasn’t looking.

With a sigh, and regret for lost daydreams, she ducked behind the screen and stripped down to her bra. A floaty white shift flew over the screen and landed on her head.

“Try that, I think it will fit.”

Several minutes, and several garments landing on her head later, Rose stepped out from behind the screen dressed in a long peach gingham dress with a heavy full skirt, and topped by a wide-brimmed straw hat with a bow.

“How do I look?” she said, smoothing down the gathers of the full skirt. She looked up, and caught her breath.

The Doctor stood before her looking dark and dangerous. Black cowboy boots, black denim jeans, a crisply white cuffed shirt, and a black leather duster that went past his knees.

Rose let her breath out in a whoosh. All that was missing was a gunbelt and cowboy hat.

He reached over and picked up a battered black cowboy hat from the loaded stand beside him. He pushed it onto his short cropped hair.

The only thing holding Rose up was the hundreds of layers of skirts to her dress. “Wow.”

He looked up at her. “Ready?”

That was _so_ not the thing for him to ask her right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Fiery gray eyes raked her from her beribboned bonnet down her peachy gingham dress. 

She could see why ladies in corsets fainted, Rose thought, as that all-encompassing gaze drew the breath right out of her. Not that she was wearing a corset, although the dress called for one. 

She’d been a bit surprised when the bulletproof vest he’d given her had molded itself to her, contouring to her breasts and ribcage like the best, high tech whalebone. 

Forcing herself to breathe, she pirouetted before him. “What do you think?”

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes approved. 

He held out one leather clad arm. “Shall we go?”

\---------— 

Rose sat cross-legged under the tree, her skirts plumped out around her like an enormous mushroom. She looked down at the pathetic little dusty town, and gave a sigh. 

The Doctor lay sprawled beside her, long legs stretched out, leaning back against the tree, his hat tipped down over his face. 

Rose picked a blade of grass and stuck it in her mouth. It seemed the thing to do here. She bit down and grimaced at the sharp green chlorophyl taste. She spat it out. 

“You know what, Doctor? The Old West is _boring_.” 

He tipped the corner of his hat up and peered at her out of one eye. He just grunted as if that was obvious, and closed his eyes again. 

“So, come on then,” she poked him in the thigh with one long, red-tipped fingernail. “Where’s the aliens? Where’s the _Indians_? Shouldn’t something be happening?”

“We’re the alien’s here, Rose. And I seriously doubt the Native Americans are going to stage a raid on the town just for your amusement. They’re smarter than that. And despite what you might have seen on telly, they don’t go around attacking towns and wagon-trains just for the fun of it.”

“Well, yeah, but normally whenever we show up _something_ happens.” 

“Something already did happen. I was here last year, if you remember.”

“Impersonating, ‘Doc’ Holliday.” She grinned hugely. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“I was young.”

She snorted. “Not to hear them tell it.”

They had strolled through town, greeting people, and even coming up with a story of having travelled in on the train. They’d looked around, peering into the quaint antique shops and the dentists/barber shop (which the Doctor had hustled her past for some reason.)

Determined to do the thing up right, Rose had even dug up a lacy pink parasol from the wardrobe room to go with her outfit, rejecting the Doctor’s offer of a redhandled umbrella. 

She’d been grateful for the protection, the town was hot and dusty, not much more than a dirt road and clapboard buildings, the wooden sidewalks creaked and groaned under their feet and piles of manure steamed gently in the streets. Whenever they’d had to cross the road Rose had been very careful where she’d stepped, and very grateful for the shade of the parasol as the relentless Arizona sun beat down on them like a heavy weight on their shoulders. She didn’t know how the Doctor, all in black, stood it. But then, he never seemed to notice the temperature. 

“Is there any chance of seeing Indians?” Rose asked, fascinated in spite of herself. Up here, at least, there was a cool wind blowing. 

The Doctor propped himself up on his elbows. He looked around, as if getting his bearings. “The 1880’s wasn’t the best time for the Native Americans. The tribes were being systematically dismantled by the U.S. government, children being sent away to schools and forcibly “Westernized," he spat the word with distaste. “Whole cultures virtually wiped out in only a few years.”

“Cultures? I thought Indians were Indians.”

He rolled his head to give her a disdainful look. “No more than Europeans were Europeans. There were as many pre-Columbian cultures in North America as there were in pre-Columbian Europe.”

“So, what is this then?” she said, waving around at the desert landscape. “Like Spain?”

“The Spanish were some of the first Europeans to colonize here, but if you’re referring to Native Americans then this general area was home to the Navaho, Apache, and Hopi cultures. That’s not what they called themselves, of course, but those are the names you’d know them by.” He plucked a dry bit of straw from the lee of a rock and stuck it in his mouth, reclining back again, the very image of a lazy cowpoke, despite the professorial lecture. 

Rose just enjoyed looking at him for a while. God knows he was the only thing out here worth looking at. Scrub, dirt, rocks and weeds, this was even the only tree for miles, with the exception of a few struggling fruit trees in some of the backyards below. 

The Doctor had said the town had grown since he’d last been here. The one high street had branched off into neighborhood streets. Rose had spotted more shops down the side streets, mixed in with the wood houses and kitchen gardens.

There was even a photography studio. She’d noticed it right next to the empty lot where the Doctor said the actual shooting had taken place. Rose had been disappointed that it wasn’t an actual corral.

“Doctor, why is that rabbit playing a flute?”


	3. Chapter 3

Mad eyes. 

The Doctor saw that the creature wasn't grooming its whiskers as he'd thought. It was holding and playing a flute. It turned and saw them, its red, mad eyes looking directly at first one then the other of them, aware of them, and making sure they were aware of him. It turned and hopped off. 

No, not hopped, Rose realized, skipped, like a child. The strangely happy motion was made all the creepier by the malevolent music it was still playing. 

"Quick! After it!" The Doctor sprang up and dashed after the creature, duster flaring, one hand clamped to his hat. 

"What do I look like? Alice?!" Rose demanded as she lumbered up and followed him, her skirts tangling at every step. She hiked up her dress and ran after him. 

Rose caught up to the Doctor at the bottom of the hill. He was standing there, arms akimbo, hands on his hips, glaring like Clint Eastwood. 

"Where did it go?" she asked. 

"I lost it." He jerked his chin at the town, a true rabbit warren of clustered houses, fences, wooden porches and raised boardwalks. The rabbit could be hiding anywhere. 

"What was it anyway?" Rose asked. 

"A kachina." 

"Bless you. So what's a kachina?" 

The Doctor crouched down and drew a picture in the dirt with his finger. A stylized humpbacked figure, dancing and playing a flute, four long protuberances curved back over its head. 

"You gave it too many ears." Rose noted absently. She scanned the dusty landscape, looking for a large crazed rabbit with mad eyes. 

He stood up and pointed down at the drawing. " _That_ is a kachina. A spirit of the Hopi people." 

Rose's eyes snapped back to the Doctor. "I thought you didn't believe in spirits." 

"I don't. But I do believe in established patterns. And this one's all wrong. It's supposed to be a joyful spirit, one that heralds in springtime with its beautiful flute playing." 

"Somehow, Bunnicula didn't infuse me with joy. And I'd hardly call that cat screeching music." 

"Exactly." The Doctor strode off toward the town. "We've got to find it. I'll take this side, you take that side." he said, motioning to different sides of the high street as they reentered town. "Keep your eyes open, it could be anywhere." 

*** 

Rose checked everywhere on her side of the street, inside stores, under the side stairs leading to upper rooms, and under the steps to the boardwalk, as best she could anyway. She could hardly get down on her knees to check, in this dress. She was just peeking in around the edge of the saloon door (a real live Wild West Saloon!) when she heard crying coming from the street behind her. 

She turned and saw a short procession walking down the street, everyone in black, the women wearing veils. The Doctor loped across the street in front of the procession and joined her. "Looks like some kind of funeral procession." he said, turning to stand by her and watch. 

"Where's the casket?" 

"There. The man in the front is holding it." That's when Rose saw the tiny casket. No more than two feet long, tiny enough to be held by one man. A baby. "Oh!" she took down her parasol and furled it in respect as the procession passed, bowing her head. She peeked sideways at the Doctor, he was just standing there watching, his hat still on his head. She poked him with her elbow. "Take you hat off!" 

He gave her an affronted look, but took the hat off. A man and a woman followed the man with the tiny casket, the man having to virtually hold the woman upright, she was crying so hard. 

"That's Wyatt Earp," the Doctor said quietly, nodding at the tall brunt man with the large mustache. "She must be Mattie Blaylock, his wife." 

"Wyatt Earp!?" Rose yelped quietly, as she strained to get a better look at the man as they passed by, impressed in spite of the grief of the occasion. "I didn't know he lost any kids." she said softly. 

"No, nor did I." 

"That's the third babe we've lost in as many months." 

The Doctor and Rose spun around at the unexpected voice. A blowsy red haired woman stood behind them, her hair piled high in elaborate curls, the feather sticking out of the back of her hair contradicted by the somber black dress she was wearing. Rose would have placed her as an aging saloon girl, if it wasn't for the matronly respectability of the dress. 

"I'm Reggie Carstairs." she held out a weatherbeaten hand to Rose, then to the Doctor, as sure as equals. The Doctor grinned as he shook hands, plopping his hat back on his head. The woman's eyes flickered as she took in his long gunfighter's form, and the cheerful irreverence of wearing a hat in a lady's presence. 

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose." the Doctor introduced. 

"Pleased to meet you. Come on in, have a drink, God knows I need one, there's been too much death in this town of late." She nodded her head, sending her feather bobbing, and Rose followed her eagerly into the Last Chance Saloon. The butterfly doors swung shut behind them, and they stepped down two steps onto the main floor. Rose looked around avidly. 

"Hasn't changed much." the Doctor noted. Rose was fascinated by the roughhewn room, it was two stories tall, a set of switchback stairs on the left wall leading up to a gallery with rooms leading off it, overlooking the main floor. There was a potbellied cast iron stove right by the door, holding a wilting pot of flowers right now, unneeded in the heat. The classic saloon bar filled the space along the right wall. Bars didn't change down through the centuries Rose noted, they were all the same scarred and polished wood, marked with pale rings left by spilled drinks, and the nicks and dings of hard use. Instead of the mirror she expected behind the bar, there was a series of plaster arches that looked like they'd been intended for mirrors, but none had arrived. Instead they were filled with racks of trophy antlers, and a large sign that read, "No shooting in the saloon." Rose had to gulp back a laugh. 

"You been here before?" the woman asked, as she went back behind the bar, her skirts swishing against the wood. 

"A while back." the Doctor said, uninformatively. "Charlie was the barman then." 

"Yeah, my nephew, Charlie. Died on this very bar." she patted the bar in front of Rose, and Rose jumped back at the image. "He left the saloon to me." She poured herself a drink from a tall bottle and raised it in a silent toast, she knocked it back in one gulp. "So what'll ya have?" she asked, plunking the shotglass back on the shelf behind the bar. 

"Beer!" Rose said automatically. The Doctor laid a restraining hand on her arm. "Sarsparilla." 

Reggie looked at the two of them then nodded. She rummaged around in the underside of the bar. She came up with two small brown bottles, corked, and set them on the bar in front of them, along with two glasses. The Doctor surprised Rose by digging into his pocket and tossing a coin onto the bar. 

He uncorked the bottle and poured the fizzy liquid into one of the glasses, he slid it over to Rose and poured himself one. Reggie surprised her further by going to the end of the bar, opening an upright wooden chest and coming back to plunk a chunk of ice into each of their glasses. "No extra charge." she said magnanimously. 

Rose looked at the Doctor in surprise and lifted the drink to her mouth cautiously. It was surprisingly good, even warm. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was. She inconspicuously sucked on a corner of the ice as the Doctor and Reggie talked. 

"You say this is the third infant death in three months?" the Doctor asked, as blunt as usual. Reggie seemed to appreciate bluntness, she nodded. 

"Miscarriages or stillbirths. It's not unusual, but three in three months, well, it's got the rest of the pregnant girls spooked. Nothing will grow in this town. It's bad enough that the fools are actively killing each other off," she waved a dismissive hand at the street outside, "But it's even affecting the cows and chickens, even the gardens aren't coming up like they should. Even with the heat there should be more green around by now, but... nothing. Just dirt and sand. It's enough to give a person religion." 

"Has anyone tried to trace the cause?" the Doctor asked. Rose looked up at the note in his voice. He had that hard, determined look around his jaw. It was sad when babies died, but, surely, babies died a lot more in the past didn't they? 

"Bad luck's the cause. No rain means no crops, no crops mean people don't eat right. Doc Holliday thought it might be something in the mines or in the water, he sent samples off to Wichita for testing before he left. But, nothing. Say, you're a doctor, you plan on looking into it? You want me to round up some of the girls for you to examine?" 

"No, but I think I might just take a look at the mine." 

Reggie nodded. "Good idea. All this started when they opened up that new seam."


	4. Chapter 4

Rose scurried after the Doctor struggling to get her parasol unfurled before the sun baked her brains. She got it open and caught up with his longlegged stride. 

"Why are we going to the mines?" she asked. "I thought we were meant to be looking for that rabbit?" 

"Rose, when that rabbit disappeared, it didn't just pop down a rabbit hole or scramble under a porch, it literally disappeared." He ticked off items as he walked. "It's a kachina, a Hopi spirit. The Hopi are known for their silver jewelry. Tombstone is a silver-mining town. I'd be very surprised if the two weren't related." 

"But, what's that got to do with dead babies and gardens?" 

"This is the kachina that brings fertility and spring. Obviously, both those things are going wrong." 

*** 

The mine office was a tall, thin building on the other edge of town. A narrow porch led up to a glass fronted door, Rose tried the handle but it was locked. She cupped her hands and pressed her face to the dusty glass. There was a desk inside, and a chair, a file cabinet and not much else. The Doctor tinked his fingernail on the glass beside her head. She pulled back and looked.

There was a small placard hanging inside the glass of the door, it said, "Gone to Lunch."

"So what now?"

The Doctor nodded over to the wide board fence that backed the building, loud noises of industry were coming from inside. The gate had a huge padlock, but the Doctor quickly soniced it open. They pushed open the wide wooden gates to reveal a busy courtyard. Huge mounds of ore were piled around the sides of a small hill. Men were shovelling ore, pushing carts, tending tools, and there were guards lined all along the high pallasade wooden fence. A guard turned and saw them and scowled, raising his shotgun. He jerked it upward in a clear message, and they raised their hands. 

"How did you get in here?" he demanded, looking past them at the open gate, the chain hanging free. 

The Doctor gave him an innocent look and looked back at the gate. "It was open." The Doctor turned back, giving him his best "Who me?" look. Rose gritted her teeth to keep her face straight. Despite the Doctor's hamming, there was something decidedly not funny about being on the open end of a loaded shotgun. 

"We just wanted to see the mines." Rose said.

The man lowered his shotgun slightly, apparently deciding they weren't dangerous. "We ain't open for sightseeing, and you don't work here, so git. You wanna see the mines, you talk to the boss."

"There was no one in the office," Rose pointed out. 

"Well, I'm right sorry about that miss, they probably went out to get a bite to eat. But I can't have strangers just walking into a silver mine. You go on out and wait at the porch. Or better yet, go on down to Clancey's," he motioned with the gun with one hand, much more polite, and holding it casually now. Although Rose noticed there were two other guards farther back that were keeping them covered. "Boss usually stops at Clancey's for lunch. You ask him if it's okay." He herded them toward the gate. 

"What now," Rose whispered as they walked ahead of their guard. "Sneak in?"

The Doctor nodded toward the entrance to the mine, an eight foot hole dug into the side of the hill. Rose watched as one miner flattened himself against the side of the entrance, as another pushed a wood sided cart up the tracks out of the mine. There was barely room for them both.

The guard ushered them out of the gates and reclosed the doors, taking the padlock and chain with him. The Doctor tipped his hat mockingly to the empty doors, and any eyes watching. "There's no way to sneak into a mine. No room, no place to hide. Just straight hewn out tunnels."

"So what now?"

"Back to the Tardis, I think." 

***

The Tardis materialized in a small cave. The door opened and Rose stepped out still in her gingham dress and bonnet. "Where are all the miners?" she asked back over her shoulder as the Doctor stepped out.

"I went forward a few hours, it's the middle of the night. Everyone's asleep." 

Rose looked around and saw the wood timbers bracing the roof, and the unlit lanterns hanging off hooks. Wondering how she could see underground, she turned and saw the Doctor had somehow turned the Tardis roof light on, its blue light illuminated a small gallery, a wide spot in the tunnel that came toward them in the front, and continued on behind the Tardis. 

"So what are we looking for then?" she asked, casually picking up a pick ax and giving it a couple of experimental swings. 

"Anything out of the ordinary. Like this." He nodded at the opposite wall. It was just rock from what Rose could see. It was threaded through with white and green streaks that she supposed was the silver and there were some black patches running down the wall that looked like someone had thrown sooty water on it. 

"Silver oxide," the Doctor said, seeing her look. He swiped his fingertips through the soot and tapped her on the nose, leaving a black streak. She scowled at him and scrubbed at her face. "Doesn't that mean there's water getting in here?" she asked. 

The Doctor stared at her, wide eyed, "Very good!" She smiled smugly, for having surprised him. "But no. Probably just bad ventilation, too much humidity building up from the miner's breathing, condensing on the walls. "That, or they're throwing coffee on the walls. No. This is the interesting bit." He tapped a wide silver vein that ran down the wall, parallel to the floor. It was about three feet wide, someplaces wider, some narrower, but mostly level and never smaller than three feet. Other veins ran off of it here and there, but this was obviously the main vein the miners were working. 

"It's a silver vein in a silver mine, what's so strange strange about that?" Her eyes got wide. "You don't mean they're mining his spaceship!"

He gave her an aggrieved look. 

"Sorry," she grumbled, looking down. She kicked at the dun colored, uneven floor. 

"You've got spaceships on the brain. No, this is natural ore, unrefined," he ran his fingers along the rock wall, studying the seam, "traces of gold," She looked up at that, leaning to look past his shoulder. His bulk threw a gunslingers shadow across the wall from the Tardis light behind him, "If I can analyze a sample," she heard him mutter and she saw a pinpoint of blue light flare in the shadow in front of him, as he activated the sonic screwdriver. He pressed it to the seam of ore, angling it on a jutting bit, to chizel a piece off. He buzzed the sonic screwdriver. Blue lightning flashed down the whole length of the tunnel seam. 

"Woah!" He jumped back, pushing Rose back behind him. The silver in the wall gleamed electric blue for a moment then faded. 

"What was that?" Rose asked, the hair on her nape still standing up. 

A wind blew down the tunnel. Startled, they turned into it, peering down the black deserted tunnel. The wind grew, pressing the Doctor's coat back against his chest, causing Rose's hat to flap and jerk against its ribbon under her chin. As the wind grew, they could hear a high breathy undertone, the playing of an evil flute, sounding like the enraged snarling of a cougar, going from ghostly to all too real. The sound grew, coming closer. Rose felt her muscles lock, paralized with terror, her eyes straining to see the approaching wildcat, even while her rational mind told her there was nothing there. 

Her body wasn't listening, she grabbed the Doctor's sleeve in a clawed hand. The sound grew and grew, the wind howling around them until even the walls began to shake, the stones vibrating against each other as the sound rattled their bones. Dust started filtering down from the roof. A stone fell. More debris, gravel bouncing off the rims of their hats. 

"Get inside the Tardis, Rose!" The Doctor yelled over the tummult. She was looking right at him but could barely hear him. Her muscles were locked, too terrified to move. The snarling was all around her now, clawing at her brain, activating the instincts of a small mammal hiding in its burrow. 

"Rose! Now!" The Doctor shoved her toward the Tardis, forcing her to stumble or fall. 

The wind raised a high piercing shriek, like souls being branded in hell. Rose sobbed, covered her ears, closed her eyes and ran. The Tardis door fell open under her hand and she fell inside, crawling forward to give the Doctor room, not thinking, just reacting. The sting of the ramp grating against her palms, the feel of the Doctor's boots bumping against her ankles as he turned and slammed the doors shut, were her only connections to reality.

The snarling wind continued screaming outside, she could hear it, even over the hum of the Tardis console engaging and the Time Rotor starting up. Ghostly screams of rage clawed at the exterior until the rotor fell and the Tardis slipped into the vortex. 

***

"Are you all right?" the Doctor leaned down to look at her, crouched halfway up the Tardis ramp. She was laying in a pool of her skirts at the end of the ramp, her fingers gripped into the mesh as if she feared she'd be sucked out of the Tardis by the maniacal wind. 

It was quiet. 

She looked up at the Doctor's face, her eyes huge, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked around. She was safe in the Tardis. The Doctor tipped his hat back, crouching before her in his black leather duster. She could see the silver threads tracing loopy patterns on his cowboy boots in front of her nose. He held down a large, sinewey hand to her. "Need some help?"

She grabbed onto his hand like a lifeline. The Doctor's hand. Big, cool, hard, safe. He lifted her up as if she weighed nothing. He looked at her eyes, then unexpectedly pulled her into his arms. He hugged her, hard. 

The feel of him wiped all traces of shock out of her mind. Hard, tall, strong as a tree, and infinitely comforting, all she wanted to do was burrow closer. 

"Better?"

"Yeah." 

"Good."


	5. Chapter 5

He turned and stumped back up to the console. Rose stumbled at his abrupt departure, feeling somewhat bereft. Typical. She followed him, scowling at his back, annoyed. But at least if she was annoyed she wasn't scared.

"What just happened back there anyway? I'm not usually that much of a coward, am I?"

He looked up in surprise. "A coward? You? Not likely." He bent over to fiddle with the scanner controls. "That was our old friend, Kokopelli."

"What, it's got a name now?" she asked in disbelief. She settled a hip against the Tardis console and watched as he hunched intently over the scanner screen. "Do you know all the monsters names?" 

"No, just this one. Hah! Here we go then." He stepped back and crossed his arms with a satisfied air, studying the screen. Rose peered around and looked at it. It looked like a three dimensional representation of a tangle of tree branches, or a river system, but then it rotated sideways and she could see all those lines spread out into sheets, looking like someone's washing flapping wildly in the wind. Sheets and lines ran in spidery tendrils in all directions, some connecting, some petering out.

"I give up."

"That, is a map of all the silver ore in the area. And look at this," he tapped a palm-sized circular formation at the left of the screen. A perfect circle. Well, almost perfect, it had a bite taken out of the lower left corner. Smaller circles intersected the larger one at odd locations. 

"It looks like your Gallifreyan writing." Rose said. She flicked a finger at the post-it note on the monitor. 

The Doctor's eyebrows jumped up. He studied the note, then the circular formation on the screen. "You're right. It does a bit."

"So what's it say?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, it's just jibberish. But suggestive."

"Suggesting what?"

"I don't know. But it is something he's trying to protect. That missing bit corresponds to the mine gallery we were in." He pulled up a graphic of the town and overlaid it on the map. The entire town of Tombstone was no bigger than her thumb. The mine, also represented, was a bit larger leading off to one side, and she could see where the gallery fit into the niche in the circle. The main portion of the mine followed a larger seam that ran along beside the circle but wasn't part of it. She could see where the new mineshafts had been cut to give access to the circle.

"So I was right!" she said in jubilation. "They are mining his ship!" 

"Rose," he said with a longsuffering sigh, " _that_ is not a ship. It's not even solid. Look." He rotated the view so she could see the ring from side on. It wasn't just a ring. It had two swirling spirals rising above and below it, like two tornadoes meeting funnel to funnel. The spirals were made of spindly veins, almost invisible, with obviously tons of earth separating each strand. 

"So that thing's built inside solid rock?"

"Not built the way you'd know it, not built and then burried there, it's part of the natural rock formation."

"So what's it for?"

"I don't know." He clapped his hands in love of a good mystery and headed for the door. "Let's go find out!"


	6. Chapter 6

They rematerialized in the yard behind the livery stable. 

No sooner had they stepped out of the Tardis, noting the early morning slant to the sun, and the crisp clean smell of the morning air, than Wyatt Earp entered the yard.

“What was...?” He stopped when he saw them. “What are you folk doing back here? Livery stable isn’t open yet.”

The Doctor patted the side of the Tardis. “We were just looking at this, wondering if it was for sale.”

The deputy looked at the blue box. “I thought Jim got rid of that thing months ago.” He shook his head. “Never mind. Jim’ll be by in an hour or so, I expect he’s at breakfast.”

“Breakfast!” Rose perked up, interrupting him. She turned to the Doctor eagerly.

“Rose,” the Doctor said, “we haven’t got time for...”

“Doctor, all I’ve had all day is half a bottle of Sarsaparilla and a blade of grass. I’m hungry!”

Hearing the incipient Jackie in her whine, the Doctor relented. “All right! All right! Breakfast first.”

“Great!” She turned to the Deputy. “Where’s a good place to eat around here?”

“That’ll be Clancey’s. It’s down the street and around the corner from the saloon. “Come on, it’s easier if I just show you. Jim’ll probably be there. You can ask him about that crate.”

He waved the two of them through the gate and stayed a second to secure it behind him. “So, are you the Doctor Reggie was telling me about, who plans to look into what’s killing our kids?” The man had a tight jawed look to him as he led them down the street. Rose was reminded that he’d buried his baby only yesterday.

“That’s me. And this is Rose.” Earp tipped his hat to her and Rose twinkled back at him, lifting a small smile under his mustache. 

“So how can I help?” Earp asked, leading them past the saloon and around the corner. He bumped into a man coming the other way. He steadied him then, when he got a good look who it was, he clapped him affectionately on the shoulder. “Virgil. You just coming off shift?”

The man, an older, slightly heavier version of Wyatt nodded and rubbed his eyes. “I hate night duty. Who’s this?”

Virgil stepped back and introduced them. “Doctor... Sorry I didn’t catch your name.”

“Doctor’s fine,” the Doctor said, hands tucked into his pockets, looking enigmatic.

Wyatt Earp nodded, there were plenty of men in the west who preferred to keep themselves to themselves. “Doctor, Miss Rose, this is my brother, Marshal Virgil Earp.”

The Marshal tipped his hat to Rose and nodded to the Doctor. He fell into step with them as Wyatt headed down the side alley. “How’s Mattie doing?” Virgil softly asked his brother as they led the two strangers down the side street. 

Wyatt shook his head. “Not good, she refuses to get out of bed...”

Rose blocked out the rest of the private conversation. And noticed something else. Music on the wind, soft, discordant, irritating music that raised her hackles and made her feel angry. She wished she’d grabbed some earplugs from the Tardis. 

“Doctor?”

“I hear it.” He looked around, expecting trouble.

A shotgun blast ripped into the brick wall beside them. “Down, Rose!” Faster than she could later recall, he whirled her around and she found herself lying facedown in the lee of the building across the street, the Doctor lying over her, shielding her with his body as gunshots fired around them. 

She heard a curse, a grunt and a scream, the sound of a falling body, and the sound of more gunshots and the pounding of footsteps leading away. 

“Are you all right?” the Doctor asked in her ear. She turned her head, pushed her hatbrim aside, and saw his face right beside her, two days' growth of beard making him look even more cowboyish close up. 

“Are you?”

"Yeah.” He helped her to her feet, eyes scanning the alleyway, there was no one in sight, the sounds of excitement had moved off down the street. He helped her up. She dusted herself off. 

“It’s a good thing you made me wear that bulletproof vest,” she said. “Oh!” They both noticed the body at the same time, they rushed to it together and the Doctor knelt down. It was Virgil Earp, lying just inside the entrance to the alley, his back covered with blood.

Wyatt Earp came pounding back into the alley, cursing. “It was the Clanton’s again! I found this by the window across the street.” He held up a hat, shaking it vengefully. Then noticed his brother. “Virgil!” He ran over and slid to his knees beside his brother. He reached out to turn him over but the Doctor stopped him. 

“Wait.”

Wyatt stared wild eyed at the blood pumping out of his brother’s back. 

“We need something to brace his back with,” the Doctor said with forceful calm. 

Wyatt visibly pulled himself together. “Right.” He turned to the crowd and started organizing them. 

What they came back with was a door. Rose helped the men slide Virgil onto the slab of wood, then went on before them, clearing a path through the spectators. Reggie stepped out of the doors of the saloon and waved them in. 

Rose looked at the small, round tables and immediately went to the bar, swiping all the glasses to the far end with a sweep of her arm. Reggie cleared off the mugs and bottles at the other end. 

The men trooped in and heaved Virgil, door and all, onto the bartop.


	7. Chapter 7

"Somebody needs to call for a doctor," Rose said.

"We ain’t got one," said a voice from the back of the crowd. "Even Doc’s out of town."

"He’s a doctor." Wyatt said, nodding at the Doctor as he and Reggie cut the shirt off Virgil’s back.

"He’s not..."

"It’s okay, Rose," the Doctor said in that deep, intense voice he got when things were bad. He shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to her, snagging the sonic screwdriver from a pocket on the way. 

He leaned over the injured man. Reggie was already wiping the blood from Virgil’s back with the bar towels, Rose could see the bullethole, low on the man’s back, still sluggishly pumping blood. She could smell the blood, the thick coppery tang of it hanging heavy in the still saloon air. She clamped her teeth shut, swallowing bile. 

The Doctor ran the sonic screwdriver over the man's back, studying the wound. 

"What is that thing?" Wyatt asked. 

The Doctor wasn’t paying attention, "New diagnostic tool, from Philadelphia," he answered offhand. He stood back, considering. "The bullet’s still in there, close to the spine." The Doctor looked up his eyes darting around as if he was searching for something. The saloon was filled with milling, worried townsfolk, all of them silently watching, their breaths making the muggy heat even more oppressive. "I need a piece of metal."

Reggie ducked under her skirts and pulled out a knife, handing it to him handle first. "No," the Doctor shook his head, still scanning the room. "Wyatt, give me your gun."

The Deputy jumped. "He’s not a horse, you can’t just shoot him!"

"Don’t be daft!" the Doctor sneered. "If you want him to live, give me your gun."

Reluctantly, Wyatt drew his sixgun and handed it to the stranger. 

The Doctor took the gun, broke it open, dumped out the bullets and cleared the chamber, then turned to the shelf behind him and stuck the barrel in a glass of whiskey, swishing it around. Wyatt made a squeaking noise of protest behind him but didn’t say anything.

The Doctor poured whiskey over his hands, flicking the excess away negligently, then took the sonic screwdriver and started pulling it down the barrel of the gun, stroking it several times with the vibrations, always in the same direction.

"Right," he turned back to his patient and glared at Wyatt and a few other men. "Hold him down. He’s going to buck."

Fortunately Virgil was still unconscious. Three men stepped forward and helped hold him down. Wyatt leaned onto his shoulders, the others grabbed hips and legs. 

"Rose," the Doctor waved Rose over from the end of the bar. He held the sonic screwdriver lying against the man’s buttock, pointing the light up along the man’s back. It was emitting the deepest hum she’s ever heard from it. "Hold this right there." He tilted it to show he was pressing it against the base of the man’s long back muscles, in the small of his back. He transferred the screwdriver to her and she held it tightly, her knuckles resting on the man’s backside as she aimed it up along the man’s muscles. She could feel the vibrations of it rattling the nerves in her hand, like a live thing. "That will relax the muscles," he said. "Keep it steady." She nodded.

The Doctor took Wyatt Earps pistol and pressed the muzzle of it to the puckered bullet wound. He rotated it slightly and worked the tip into the blood slicked hole. He pushed the muzzle into the man’s back. The crowd gasped. 

"Shut up!" the Doctor growled. He concentrated fiercely, working the barrel of the gun slowly into the wound. The barrel was larger than the bullet, the muzzle stretched the skin, and Rose winced, pushing the sonic screwdriver harder against the man’s back, understanding now why the muscles needed to be loose.

Virgil started to stir. "Somebody put him out!" the Doctor yelled. 

Rose winced as a man in the crowd quickly pistolwhipped the Marshal, dropping him back into unconsciousness.

The Doctor shook his head and gritted his teeth, concentrating on his task. He stopped the grinding advance of the pistol and started pulling it back out, slowly. 

The barrel cleared the bullet hole with an organic schloop, as the wound puckered back. The bullet was stuck to the end of the barrel. 

Everyone in the room sighed, a huge exhalation. The Doctor threw the bloodied gun on the shelf behind him and took the towels Reggie handed him, wiping down the man’s back, clearing away the worst of the blood and finished cleaning it with a towel dipped in whiskey. 

He took the sonic screwdriver from Rose and changed the setting. He aimed the screwdriver down into the bullethole and activated a quick burst. A hard shrill whine ripped the air and made everyone jump and cover their ears, a bottle behind the Doctor shattered, there was a hard, tight, "Phupht!" from the man’s back, Virgil jerked, and a small puff of smoke wafted up from the wound. 

"I’ve cauterized the artery. It should stop the worst of the bleeding." He turned to Wyatt, who was looking at him, whitefaced. "He’s lost far too much blood. It’s going to take time for him to recover."

Wyatt nodded. 

The Doctor pressed a clean folded towel to the wound, leaning on it to stop the rest of the bleeding. He turned to Reggie. "Honey..."

"My _name_ is Reggie," she said frostily. 

He stared at her blankly for a moment. "No, I mean, I need honey. For the dressing. It will keep the wound sterile and promote healing."

"Oh." Reggie’s shoulders relaxed. "Jeff," she turned to the fourteen year old boy who’d been watching everything from a tense, huddled position halfway up the stairs. "Go fetch me a new jar of Berta’s best honey, skoot now!"

"Yes, ma’am." The boy scuttled down through the crowd and disappeared through the door at the end of the bar. 

Once he returned it only took a few minutes to bandage Virgil up and transfer him to a room upstairs. The men followed the Earp brothers upstairs to supervise the transfer. The room started to clear as the townsfolk filtered back out into the street now that the excitement was over. Reggie started setting her bar to rights.

Rose got her first good look at the Doctor as he leaned wearily against the bar, braced on his arms. Her weary hero, decked out in a bloody western shirt and suspenders. Her heart swelled in her chest with pride and possession. She walked up, touched his arm. "I didn’t think you were that kind of doctor," she said softly. 

He turned to look at her. "War teaches you lots of things," he said wearily, more in spirit than in body, she knew. She saw a line of blood on his cheekbone. 

"You’re hurt!" She reached up to wipe away the blood and get a better look. 

"Sliced by a brick chip from the wall, I suspect." She wiped the blood away with careful fingers, then frowned. She picked up one of the last clean towels, dipped it in the alcohol and cleaned off the rest of his cheek. There was no cut. Yet he’d obviously been bleeding. She looked up at him with worried eyes. He shook his head slightly, eyes darting to Reggie. Rose nodded.

She picked up his duster from the end of the bar and held it out to him. There was blood on the cuffs and front. 

"I’ll take care of that," Reggie said, reaching for the coat. She’d finished clearing up the bar. "And I’ll find you another shirt, Doctor. That one looks ruined."

The Doctor looked down at his bloody shirtfront. "Oh, that’s not a problem." He stepped out from behind the bar and unselfconsciously stripped out of his shirt. He gave the shirt a sharp "snap!" and all the blood flicked off of it in a dry red cloud. He turned and saw the ladies. Reggie was looking at him with disbelief, staring at the shirt. 

"I know a lot of inventors," the Doctor explained. 

Reggie nodded dubiously. "That must be handy."

He slipped the pristine shirt back on and started buttoning it up. Rose was staring at his bare chest, ogling him, her cheeks flushed. The Doctor smiled a secretive little smile and kept buttoning.

Reggie noticed Rose’s response and cleared her throat. "Yes, well, you’re shirt may be clean, but I’ll just see to this jacket. Rose, you come with me, we can sponge those stains out of your hem." 

Her voice broke the spell and Rose jerked her face toward the older woman. She cleared her throat, "Yeah, sure, thanks."

Reggie herded Rose toward the back door and threw the Doctor’s jacket over her arm. She paused as she passed the Doctor, giving him a humorous but repressive look. "I trust those pants aren’t made of the same material?" she said softly. 

"No ma’am." he said, grinning irrepressibly. 

She nodded to the stairs, "There’s water pitchers and basins up in the rooms, you can finish cleaning up there."

She headed out, following Rose. She threw him a look over her shoulder, half reproach, half humor at his antics. 

He grinned and headed upstairs.


	8. Chapter 8

The Doctor had scrubbed clean and walked down the hallway, staring out over the banister to the saloon floor below. He met Wyatt Earp as Earp exited his brother's room. 

"Thank you, Doctor. I owe you my brother's life." 

The Doctor nodded. “You do realize the bullet means there were two shooters?”

Earp nodded. “I’ve deputized some of the men, they’re already searching for him. I know one of them was Ike Clanton. I found his hat beside the window he was shooting from. Reminds me,” he held out the Doctor’s hat. “One of the boys found this in the street.”

The Doctor grinned and plopped the hat back on his head. Rose came tromping up the stairs behind Earp, the hem of her dress was damp. She nodded to the Deputy and handed the Doctor a cheese and pickle sandwich. Two chunks of homemade bread, a thick slice of tart cheese, and zangy pickles. She was sure he’d refuse it, but he ate it with every evidence of appreciation, talking to Earp around it. 

"Before all this started, you said you were looking into what is killing the babies,” Earp said. “You still plan on doing that?"

"Yes."

"How can I help?”

"Well," the Doctor leaned, hipshot, on the bannister. "Have you had any reports of unusually large rabbits sighted recently?"

Rose nibbled on her own sandwich and watched Earp’s reaction to that, her eyes twinkling.

Earp stared at him, wide eyed. "Are you saying some rabbit is causing all these problems?" he asked in disbelief. The Deputy looked at him as if he thought the Doctor might be mad, but he owed him too much to mention it.

“No. I'm saying it would be a good place to start looking."

Earp looked at Rose. She just smiled at him. Finally he nodded. "If it's rabbits you want, I think you need to talk to Billie Jo."

—————

“Wadda ya want with my rabbit?” Billie Jo said suspiciously, pushing out his chest aggressively. 

It would have been more impressive if the chest involved hadn’t been bare, covered only by a pair of faded red suspenders, and ten years old.

The boy peered suspiciously at the Doctor, he was apparently impervious to the early morning chill, wearing only a pair of worn ratty jeans held up by the suspenders, and barefoot.

“Don’t you go giving him none of your lip, boy,” Earp warned. 

“But Deputy, I been chasing that rabbit for nigh onto two months now! I don’t relish some cowboy coming in and shooting him off before I have the chance to trap him!”

“Use your eyes, son. He ain’t wearing a gun.”

“He ain’t?” Billie looked at the Doctor’s holsterless hips in surprise. “Well, I’ll be. Why ain’t you got a gun, mister?”

“I’m a Doctor. I don’t need a gun.”

“Huh!” Billie mused this over. “Doc’s a doc and he’s got a gun,” he pointed out logically.

“Doc Holliday is a dentist,” the Doctor pointed out. Rose noticed his hand went up to his jaw when he said it. “He no doubt needs a gun. All I need to know is where you’ve seen that rabbit.”

“All over. I ain’t found his burrow yet." He leaned closer to whisper, conspiritorially, "But there is one place...”

“Show me.”

Billie trotted off and the Doctor and Rose followed.

“Let me know what you find,” Earp said as the rowdy noise of horses and cowboys entered the other end of town. “I’ve got business to attend to.”

Billie turned and ran backward, and waved a hand in acknowledgment as Wyatt Earp turned and strode off.

Billie stopped when he saw Rose still beside the Doctor. “She commin’?” he asked, jerking an impudent chin at her. 

“Rose always comes with me.”

The boy curled his nose in disdain. Rose resisted the urge to hit him on the head with her parasol.

The Doctor noted the look on her face and bit down a smile. “Rose isn’t your typical girl,” he assured the boy.

The urchin raked a disbelieving stare from Rose’s impractical bonnet to her wide, heavy skirts. 

“If you say so.”


	9. Chapter 9

The boy turned, swiped up a battered straw hat from the ground, and strode off. The Doctor and Rose followed him out into the desert. 

The land around Tombstone was mostly flat, hardpan desert with a few clumps of rocks and scrub. It was cool, now, still morning, but a lingering heaviness in the air promised it would grow into its normal blistering heat later on. 

Rose watched the boy’s straight back as he marched purposefully on, not much of a talker. “He looks like Huckleberry Finn in that hat,’ she said softly to the Doctor. 

“Hmm,” he agreed absently. “About the right time for it.”

“So, have you figured out what that thing down in the mines is yet?” To anyone else, the events of the morning would have pushed the mystery completely out of their minds. But Rose knew the Doctor was capable of thinking of many different things at once. That’s one of the reasons why he was so confusing.

“Not yet.” The Doctor scanned the cactus-studded landscape. “Although we do seem to be heading toward the center of it.”

Rose looked around in surprise, expecting to see some landmark, but the device was buried deep underground. “So why did that thing shock you? Was it some kind of early warning device? Like a car alarm?”

The Doctor grinned at her. “Possibly, but I doubt it. Otherwise the miners would have triggered it off. No, silver is simply very conductive, the most naturally conductive element on your planet. I should have thought of that before I used the sonic screwdriver on it. I’ll remember next time.” He shrugged. 

“So what is this thing? An Indian spirit, an alien, what?”

“Is it an alien masquerading as Kokopelli, or it the thing that the legends are based on,” he clarified. “Could be either, it depends on how long he’s been here.”

“Can’t you tell? Couldn’t the Tardis carbon date the silver or something?” Rose asked.

“It could, but that would only tell us how old the silver is, not how long ago it was reconfigured that way. No, this whole thing could be eons old, or only months.”

“Why months?”

“Oh, Rose. Think! The miners have been mining that vein for months!”

“All right! Don’t get squidgy with me! Besides, Billie says he’s been chasing that rabbit for two months. So maybe, whatever it is, just got here.”

“Very possibly. What have we here?”

Billie was standing in front of them at a split in the ground. As Rose and the Doctor drew level with him they saw it was the beginning of a long ravine, a small canyon or wash.

“I seen him mostly down there,” Billie said, pointing down the tumbled slope. “I looked for his den, all up and down the cliffs, but I never found nothing. Some snakes, and a badger, but nothing big enough for him. And there’s a really cool big rock down there!” He said excitedly. He dug around in his pockets, stressing his suspenders. “I figure it’s some kind of Indian sacred rock or something. Here, see?” he shoved a small black triangular stone at the Doctor. 

The Doctor took it and examined it. It was no larger than his thumb. “Where did you find this?”

“Come on,” the boy said, scrambling down the cliff scree. “I’ll show you.”

They scrambled down the cliffs, the Doctor having to stop and help Rose every once in a while as her skirts kept getting in her way. At the bottom they found that the cliffs were only about three times their height, though it was old, with clumps of brush and dry grass growing from crannies up the walls. 

They boy’s boulder was at the far end of the ravine, where the walls abruptly lowered, merging back into the lower flat expanse of the desert. The boulder stood just inside the last of the walls on one side, tan desert stones tumbled down around it, as if it might have been brought down by a rockslide. But the stone itself was black, shiny jet black, with an almost metallic sheen. It was a perfect pyramid. 

“That’s got to be alien,” Rose said. 

The boy ran up and patted it possessively. It was nearly as tall as he was. 

“Interesting.” The Doctor strode over and crouched down, studying it. He smoothed his fingers over a circle of black scree that surrounded the boulder’s base. He held a piece out to Rose. It was a perfectly triangular black rock. The source of the boy’s lucky stone. 

Rose took it. The stone was smooth to the touch, slick. It reflected the light with a silvery blackness, like a black mirror. She looked up at the boulder. It was huge, probably over three hundred pounds, and on closer examination she saw that it wasn’t a pyramid, not exactly, unless it had another, upside-down pyramid stuck to its base. “It’s a... What do you call that shape?” she outlined the many sided diamond shape with her hands. 

“A polyhedron,” the Doctor supplied. 

“But what _is_ it?”

“It’s magnetite.” He stood up, hands on his hips with an oddly satisfied look on his face.

“Like a meteor?” Rose asked, looking back at the ravine that _could_ be the result of a meteor plowing to a halt. If she squinted hard and tilted her head just right.

“No. Magnetite is another natural Earth element, although it’s usually found farther east.” 

“So what’s it doing here?” Rose asked, inching closer and studying the stone. She could almost see her reflection in it. “I mean, a black pyramid? In the middle of the American desert?”

“It’s not a pyramid.” The Doctor rummaged in his pockets. “I’ll show you. Here,” he held up a metal washer and flipped it to her with a snap of his thumb. “Catch.” It arced over the stone toward her, she held out her hands. And stared in amazement as it abruptly veered down and stuck to the rock.

The Doctor grinned. “It’s magnetic.”

Rose glared at him, then leaned closer, peering at the washer. It was stuck flush to the smooth facet of the stone, she nudged it with her fingernail, and it slid sideways, but stayed stuck. “That’s...”

The rabbit appeared on top of the pyramid. 

Rose shrieked and fell backwards. It had been only inches from her face. It crouched on the stone, hunched over. It’s fur was the dun/grey color of the desert, it had the triangular head and long ears of a rabbit, but its eyes were human. 

It stared at her, seeing her. Rose was petrified to the spot.

“He’s mine!” the boy yelled, and launched himself at the rabbit that was nearly as tall as he was. 

The strange creature leaped from the stone, easily avoiding him. The boy kept coming. The rabbit bounded away in long strides, veering in a long curve out into the desert. It turned and looked over its shoulder at the Doctor. “Leave, Stranger.” Rose flinched as the words reverberated in her mind. “This world is mine!” On the fourth bound the giant rabbit disappeared in midair. 

“Damn!” Billie landed in the dirt from his last flying tackle. He rolled over and scanned the desert. Empty. “How’d he do that?”

The Doctor leaned down and helped Rose up. She stood and brushed off her skirts shakily. That voice, in her head. She was sure the message was meant for the Doctor, but she’d heard it, like an echo. It was intelligent, wise, and twisted. Wrong. 

She shivered.

“You okay?” the Doctor asked. 

“Yeah. Did you hear it?”

The Doctor nodded, distracted. He looked out over the desert, tracing the terrain with his eyes, he looked back up the ravine. He seemed to be looking for something, but Rose didn’t think it was the rabbit. He reached in his pocket absently and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. 

He set the screwdriver and scanned it over the stone, he followed whatever readings he was getting, out into the desert, right to the boy. Billie looked up from his own perusal of the desert and saw the device. 

“What’s that?” he twisted to get a good look at it. 

“It’s a dowsing rod,” the Doctor said off handedly, he scanned it in a wide arc over the desert, his eyes seeming to follow invisible lines that they couldn’t see. He jumped back up the sloping hill beside the ravine and continued the 360 degree scan. The screwdriver pinged at irregular intervals. Including when he pointed it at Tombstone. 

“I see,” he said to himself. He pocketed the sonic screwdriver and looked down pensively at the magnetite pyramid below him. He turned and looked at Rose. “The ring, underground?”

“Yeah?” Rose asked.

“I know what it is.”

Her eyebrows rose in eager question. 

“It’s a hyperphase gate.”


	10. Chapter 10

“A hyperphase gate?” Rose asked. “You mean, like a stargate?”

“Sort of, yeah.”

Rose turned and looked out over the expanse of desert with dismay, remembering the map in the Tardis. “But that thing’s huge! It’s got to be two miles across. They could move an army through there!” She stopped and turned and gave the Doctor a dubious look. “An army of _rabbits_?” 

He shrugged. “Not all invaders are Daleks or Slytheen. There’s no reason some couldn’t be Leporidae.”

She screwed her face up trying to figure that out. “Butterflies?” she asked.

“You’re thinking Lepidoptera,” he corrected her. He tilted back his hat and looked out over the desert. “Leporidae are the family of rabbits and hares. And this one is certainly as mad as a March Hare.”

“Oh, you just had to...” she rolled her eyes at him. He grinned back. 

“No, the real question here is...”

“The real question here is,” she interrupted him. “How do they get an army through when that thing’s buried underground? Wouldn’t they materialize in solid rock? Not that I’m against that.”

“No, the gate just provides power and direction, they could phase through to any point on this world. They’ve got the whole planet as a power source and...”

“Hold on,” she laid a hand on his arm, turning him toward her before he could go off on a tangent. “What do you mean by that?”

“The whole world as a power source?” he asked. She nodded. “Just what I said.” She still looked confused. “Look, you know the planet has a magnetic field, right?”

“Yeah, you’ve showed me pictures.”

“Right. So, you also know that lightning not only comes down from the sky, it also comes up from the ground, meeting in the middle.”

“Really?” Billie asked, wide eyed as he crawled up the slope beside them. The Doctor looked down at his eager face.

“Yes. And electricity - lightning,” he put in for Billie’s benefit, “always follows the path of least resistance, like water.” Billie nodded and sat down, wrapping his arms around his legs as if he was listening to a good story. Rose looked between him and the Doctor, following along. “This hyperphase gate wasn’t built here by accident. It’s sitting on a node, a convergence of the lines of electromagnetic force that crisscross the planet.”

“You mean,” Rose said, “like those lines churches are supposed to be built on?”

“Exactly, here on Earth you call them ley lines. The gate is using that for power.”

“Then, why the wait?” Rose asked. “If they’ve got the machine and the power, why haven’t they invaded?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps this Kokopelli is an advanced scout, and they were waiting for a report. Or perhaps they’re not waiting, there are loads of long-lived species out there to whom a two month delay wouldn’t be any time at all.”

“Or perhaps they’re waiting because it’s broke.” Rose put in pragmatically. 

“Possibly. But it isn’t really. Not yet. The miners have taken a big bite out of it, yes. But the outer ring hasn’t been severed yet, there’s still a thin thread connecting it. You saw on the scanner.”

She nodded.

“It wouldn’t take much to fix it. Just patch up the ring. But it looks like our bunny friend hasn’t had the chance. He’s using that magnetite down there as a focus. That’s no original part of the machine. He should be able to materialize on any part of the planet he wants to, yet he seems to be limited to riding the ley lines. That’s why he disappeared a minute ago,” he nodded down at the desert floor. “There’s a ley line running through there, he basically jumped into it.”

Billy was rocking back and forth on his seat, taking this all in with enthusiasm. 

“So, we’ve got an army of rabid rabbits sitting on the other side of this hyperphase gate, just waiting to invade. And a mad march hare on this side masquerading as a Hopi god trying to scare away the miners.”

“Spirit, not god.”

“Whatever. So what do we do? Finish destroying the gate?” Rose asked. “But that still leaves Kokopuff running around loose. What are we gonna do about him?”

“Can I have him?” Billie asked.

“ _No_ ,” the Doctor and Rose both said together. 

“Fine!” the boy wrinkled his nose and glared at them, then hunched forward to sulk. 

Rose knelt down and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, Billie. But he’s not just a big rabbit. He’s dangerous.”

“But I could have him stuffed!” 

Rose recoiled, repelled by the idea that a thinking creature....

“First we have to catch him,” the Doctor said, breaking into the moment. Rose looked up at him in horror. He just grinned at her and flicked his eyes at the boy. She relaxed.

“How you gonna do that? I tried. But he’s too smart, and if he can just disappear like that...” he waved his hand down at the desert.

The Doctor looked back and forth between the boy and the woman, then looked behind him at the lonely town of Tombstone. He grinned. “I’ve got an idea.”


	11. Chapter 11

They arrived back in Tombstone to find a panic. Someone was ringing an alarm bell and everyone was running toward the far end of town. 

“What is it?” Rose asked. She grabbed Reggie’s arm as the woman ran past. “What’s happened?”

Reggie’s face was stark white. “Mine collapse.” Rose released her in shock and the woman ran on. Billie dashed after her.

“He did it. He really did it.” Rose looked at the Doctor in dismay.

“Looks like.”

“If he gets that thing working...” Rose looked around, imagining the tiny, wooden town overrun by millions of rabbits. It would be a slaughter. “Oh my god.”

“Come on.” The Doctor took her hand and they ran. 

The gate to the mine yard was wide open. The bell ringer was still plying his rope at the mine office bell tower. People streamed in, miners yelled orders, organizing the townsfolk. A row of injured miners sprawled near the fence, being tended by a group of women led by Reggie. A long line of people had already formed at the mine entrance, passing rocks out hand to hand. Rose was amazed how many people there were, everyone worried. For all its historical significance, Tombstone was just a small silver mining town. Everyone had friends or relatives that worked in the mines. 

The Doctor spotted Wyatt Earp standing in a knot with two other men who were organizing the efforts, The Doctor pushed his way through the crowd.

“Was anyone trapped in the new seam?” he asked bluntly, interrupting their discussion. 

They turned to look at him with surprised eyes. 

“Doctor! Good, you’re here,” Wyatt said. “We don’t have anyone badly injured yet but...”

“Was anyone trapped in the new gallery?” the Doctor asked again ignoring Wyatt’s rambling, his eyes pinning the burly, well dressed man he took to be the mine owner.

“No,” the man said slowly, his eyes measuring the rough cowboy in front of him with his two day growth of beard and dusty jeans. Something in the Doctor’s intense gray gaze must have reassured him. “The miners in that section came screaming out of the tunnels before the collapse, babbling something about “demon winds” and wildcats. They’re over there.” He jerked his chin at a quivering trio of miners who sat huddled against the palisade wall.

Rose recognized that look. “Where are their wives?” Rose asked Earp, already moving to go help. Wyatt looked out over the crowd and spotted one of the women just arriving, he pointed her out. Rose grabbed his arm and dragged him off to show her. The Doctor left her to it. 

“Is there any chance of getting that seam back open?” The Doctor directed the question to the other man. The head miner was a scrawny little man in dirty overalls and a felt hat. 

The miner shook his head. “Whatever it was brought the whole tunnel down, collapsed the junction of the two tunnels. The real problem right now is the primary seam. We’ve got six men trapped down there. We don’t know if any of them are hurt. We’re digging as fast as we can. But we’re going to have to slow down soon. We can’t just indiscriminately dig, we’ve got to make sure it’s stable, bring in supports where needed. It’s not going to be a quick job.”

“Other exits?” 

The owner shook his head. “This is a silver mine. We have trouble enough just guarding this entrance, we didn’t add any more.”

“Air shafts?” the Doctor continued. 

“Two,” the head miner answered. “One to the new gallery,” which was empty, his grimace said, “and one to the old. But without cross ventilation that isn’t going to do a lot of good. They’ll just run out of air slower. But I’ve already got a team of men working at it. We’re sending one of the younger boys down.” 

He saw the Doctor’s scowl. “It’s not big enough for a man, and we need to know if it’s clear. If he can get through and find his way to the others he can lead them back to the shaft. It will be easier to widen it than get through this end,” he waved at the tunnel mouth. “If the way is blocked, or if some of the miners are trapped or injured, he can bring word. At least we’ll know more and can plan from then.”

“You’ve done very well,” the Doctor said.

“Thank you,” the professional said wryly.

“Joss!”

The head miner’s head snapped up at a call from the mine entrance. The line of stones had stopped moving and the townsfolk were fidgeting nervously as they waited in their line, some craning to see, others bent over panting, or tending to scraped hands.

The Doctor followed the scrappy little miner over to the entrance where another miner beckoned to him.

The Doctor looked across the yard, and found Rose with the three miners. Two of the miners were frantically clutching young women to them, obviously their wives. The other clutched an older woman who was apparently his mother. 

Rose turned and saw him, said something to Earp and the two trotted over to join him. 

“Come on then, let’s have a look,” the Doctor stalked toward the cavemouth.

Joss grabbed him by the arm and stopped him, “You’re not allowed in there.”

Rose smothered a grin. The head miner was a little man in coveralls and a felt hat with candle wax dripped on the brim, the Doctor towered over him. But Rose had to laugh at the way the little man didn’t even notice. It was like seeing a terrier facing off a mastiff. But a terrier who thought he was just as big as the big dog.

The Doctor stared down at the little man as if the words didn’t make any sense. Finally he just shook his head and stalked into the mine anyway. 

“Miss, please don’t come in here,” the miner said politely, holding up a hand to stop her. Had he ordered her out, she would have ignored him, but it was a respectful request. 

She nodded. She’d had more than enough of the mine anyway. From what the three nervous miners had told her, Kokopelli had returned and pulled that same trick on them, but he hadn’t stopped at merely frightening them. The noise had continued until the very walls had shook, bringing down a cascade of boulders that had chased them out of the mines. One said he’d actually seen the gallery roof crack, before the sound and the rocks had shoved him out. 

One of the men’s ears were bleeding.

She jerked her head toward the traumatized miners. “I’ll just be over there if the Doctor needs me.” He nodded and ran into the mine after the Doctor.

Eventually the Doctor and the head miner exited from their inspection, the miner yelled something to his men, who jumped up and gather several of the large timbers used for bracing and threaded their way into the mine. 

The Doctor stalked over to Rose, batting the dirt off his hat as he came. He shook his head at her. “He did a good job. They’ll be weeks clearing that out.” He rammed his hat back on his head. 

Just then there was a childish “Whoop!” of jubilation from beyond the fence and everyone turned to the gates just as Billie burst into the mine yard. He was covered in dust and scratches from head to foot but he was jumping with glee. “We found them! They’re safe!” he yelled. 

The townspeople burst out in cheers and hoots. Some of the women crying with relief. 

Rose and the Doctor stepped back out of the way as Joss and the mine owner blocked off the mine entrance and organized everyone to go recover the miners. Carts were loaded with digging equipment and people started to wend their way out of the gates, heading toward the air shaft or back to town. 

“So how long have we got?” Rose asked.

“Eight hours minimum.”

She frowned at him as if something didn’t compute. “Wait a minute, don’t you mean, ‘Eight hours maximum?’”

“No. If it was possible for him to repair the ring in less than eight hours he’d have done it before now, at night while everyone was asleep. Since he didn’t I think we can safely assume it takes more than eight hours.”

“That still doesn’t leave us a lot of time,” Rose said. 

“It’ll be enough if we move fast.” The Doctor said, pushing his hat back as he watched the yard empty. 

Rose opened her parasol and twirled it jauntily. “So what’s your plan?”

He grinned at her. He turned and scanned the crowd. “Wyatt!” he yelled over everyone’s heads. “I’m going to need a cart!”

———————

Rose twirled her parasol, grateful for the shade. The sun was well up now and the desert heat was fierce. She cocked her head at the Doctor. 

“So why now?” she asked. He turned those piercing grey eyes on her. They had that sort of calm intensity that only he could do. She finished her thought. “That maniac rabbit could have collapsed the mine any time in the last two months. Why suddenly choose now?”

“Us.” He saw her look of confusion. “He’d been concentrating on running the people off. It may not have occurred to him to collapse the tunnel until he almost did it to us. He’d have to be careful or risk damaging the ring. But he knows we’re getting close. No one knew about him before, he could take his time, work in secret. Not anymore.”

Rose nodded and watched as Wyatt Earp disengaged himself from his discussion with the miners and trotted over. “What’s the problem, Doctor?” the deputy asked. “What do you need a cart for?”

“I know who’s been causing all the trouble.”

“Who?” Wyatt Earp's hand settled on his sidearm. The cold glint in his eyes sent a shiver down Rose’s back. This man had lost his baby and nearly his brother in the past few days. He was looking for someone to blame.

“It’s not someone you can just go and drag out of their hideout.” the Doctor explained. "We’ll have to lure him out. And for that I need a cart.”

***

“Should we have abandoned the deputy to Billie’s tender mercies?” Rose asked as they entered the Tardis. 

The Doctor took off his hat and tossed it on the console. “It’s the fastest way.” He started manipulating the controls. He pulled the scanner around and frowned at it. “I’ve got some work to do, why don’t you go get cleaned up?”

Rose looked down at her dress with chagrin. Mooching about in deserts and caves was dirty work. She shook out the peach colored skirts. Dust billowed off in a cloud, settling gently down through the deckplates onto the fancy electronics underneath. She looked up at the Doctor with an guilty grimace, she knew how he felt about the Tardis. “Sorry.” He glared at her, then turned back to the scanner. Rose scuttled off.

Rose used one of the Tardis’s cleaning arches to get rid of the dust. All you had to do was walk through the archway and it cleaned everything. Body, hair, clothes, all in one go. Handy that. She squinted in the mirror. Unfortunately it had the tendency to clean off her makeup too. And, yeah, she was getting a sunburn. She wondered if the Doctor had any space age cure for that. She grimaced and reapplied her makeup, brushed her hair, and returned to the console room.

The Doctor had stopped diddling around with the controls and was bent over rummaging around in the tool chest looking for something. Rose tilted her head and admired the denim-clad view then gave him an innocent look as he stood up and turned around. “Found it!” He held up a small triangular device, as big as his palm with rounded corners. He dug in a pocket and pulled out, not the sonic screwdriver, but a tiny little pick. He popped open the top of the device and started rooting around in it with the pick, “Come on.” Not looking up from his work, he scooped his hat on and he led her out of the Tardis back into the baking heat and hot soughing wind of Arizona. 

Rose grunted as the heat hit her. It had been nice and cool in the Tardis. For their next destination she was going to ask for something in the mountains. Someplace with cool breezes and soft snow and skiing and hot chocolate around a roaring fire. Although knowing him, the snow would be carnivorous and the hot chocolate would taste like sweatsocks. 

She pulled the Tardis door closed behind her and watched as he stood there, intently hunched over the device, his hat tilted down over his face as he reprogrammed the thing. She looked around his shoulder, watching his strong hands manipulating the delicate device. She looked up at his absorbed face. He really was a sexy man, with that long nose and those big ears. She leaned against his side. He bumped her companionably with his shoulder, not taking his gaze from his work.

She leaned closer, turning slightly toward him, the sound of the wind moaning softly in her ears, her hand slid forward over his flat stomach and smoothed over his shirt, slipping under the far edge of his coat. He was so strong, and solid. Hmm. She lifted up on her tiptoes, her eyes going to his mouth. 

“Rose!” The Doctor jumped back and whipped the sonic screwdriver up between them. The harsh buzzing sound snapped her out of the sensual haze she’d been in, drowning out the soft sensual music on the wind.

He’d dropped his electronics in the dust. Slightly dizzy, not thinking, she stooped and picked it up, wiping it clean. She stood up to find him looking at her strangely.

“You all right?” he asked.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Suddenly she realized what had happened. “Oh my God. I came on to you!” She stared at him with horrified eyes. Okay, daydreams were one thing, but she’d never.... But she’d been about to.... If he hadn’t.... Oh my God!

He relaxed and grinned that wide, little boy grin at her, though she could swear there was a naughty glint in his eye. “It’s not the end of the world. Kokopelli’s trying to distract us. He’s the spirit of fertility, remember.”

“Fertility!” she yelped.

He grinned wider. “Certain frequencies of sound can stimulate human emotional responses.” He rummaged in his pockets as she blushed crimson. “Here. I meant to give these to you earlier.” He held out his hand where two waxlike white blobs sat. “Earplugs. They’ll filter out the offending wavelengths but still allow you to hear.” 

She snatched them and shoved them in her ears. 

He gave her that cocky grin again. Full of himself. He took the electronic triangle from her, blew the dust out of it and finished programming it. He snapped it shut. “There. Now all we have to do is see if Billy and Earp did their part.”


	12. Chapter 12

They entered the Last Chance Saloon to find a celebration in progress. Dirty miners lined the bar, swigging down free drinks and being slapped on the back. 

Rose’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “How did they get you out so fast?” Rose asked one of the miners as Reggie plopped a bottle of Sarsparilla down in front of her, grinning, then went on to help the rest of her happy customers. 

“Joss got tired of how slow the digging was going, so he laid half a stick of dynamite down the hole and blew it wide open.” One of the miners told her, leaning cheerfully on the bar, so coated with dirt that he looked like a furry bear. “Didn’t take any time to hack our way out after that. Three cheers for Joss!” the miner yelled, raising his tankard. 

“Hip, hip, Hooray! Hip, hip, Hooray! Hip, hip, Hooray!” the rescued miners all cheered. Joss, sitting at one of the tables nursing a whiskey, grinned bashfully, but raised his glass to them. 

“It’s a wonder you all weren’t knocked out by the compression wave,” the Doctor muttered under his breath. 

The miner heard him. “Nah. Joss’s a dab hand with stick of dynamite. And a few minutes of dizzy was worth getting out of that hole, we weren’t looking forward to the air going stale, I can tell you.” The miner took a healthy swallow of his drink in remembrance, then called for another one. 

Wyatt Earp pushed halfway into the saloon doors and beckoned to the Doctor. “We got what you wanted, Doctor. Now what do you want us to do with it?” 

“Excellent!” the Doctor leapt for the door and ran outside. 

Billie was standing proudly beside a wood-sided wagon in the middle of the street. Three other men were sitting on the wooden sides, looking curiously at the Doctor as he rushed out to inspect his prize. The magnetite boulder was sitting in the bed of the wagon, sunlight glinting off its black facets. 

“Good work!” The Doctor inspected the polyhedron briefly, it was all in one piece. “Now we need to set it down here in the road.” He gestured down to his feet and the three men groaned, but jumped out of the wagon and started setting up a tripod of mine support beams and a block and tackle. 

“What in the world do you want this thing for, Doctor? I ain’t never seen anything like it before,” Wyatt said as he stood back and let the men work. 

The Doctor rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Mr. Wearp, this is the bait in the trap.” 

Earp looked at him strangely, the Doctor felt the weight of that stare. “What?” 

“It’s ... For a minute there you sounded like Doctor Calligari.” 

“Who’s that?” Rose asked as she walked up behind them. Many of the miners had exited the saloon behind her, standing on the boardwalk watching the strange goings on. 

“Never mind that,” the Doctor said, waving away the reference to his former self. Everyone watched breathlessly as the crystaline boulder was carefully lowered into the street. They all breathed a sigh of relief when it touched down safely. 

The Doctor turned to the deputy. “Acting Marshall Earp, you’re about to see something here that you’ve never seen before. It’s likely to frighten some people, so I’d appreciate it if you’d block off this street, and make sure everyone is unarmed. I don’t want people to start shooting.” 

Earp frowned. “You said you were going to lure the culprit out so we can arrest him.” 

“I am. But unless you want a repeat of the corral, I suggest you take everyone’s guns. “ 

Wyatt’s hand fell to his revolver. “I can’t very well expect my men to arrest a dangerous criminal while unarmed, Doctor.” 

“He won’t have a gun. Please, trust me,” the Doctor’s voice was quiet, but powerful. 

Wyatt looked from the Doctor, to Rose, who was radiating sincerity, to Reggie, who was leaning against the doorjamb to the saloon. She shrugged. “He seems to know what he’s doing. Besides, he puts on a good show. Nobody’s supposed to be armed in town anyway.” 

Wyatt clenched his jaw and looked back at the Doctor. “All right, Doctor. I’ll trust you. But I’m keeping _my_ gun.” 

The Doctor nodded. “All I ask is that you don’t shoot unless there’s trouble.” 

“Fair enough.” 

Earp sent two of his deputies to block off the ends of the road, one taking the cart with him to serve as a barricade. He and the other man started gathering up sidarms from the crowd lining the street. People seemed happy to hand them over, for the chance to see the show. Most of them didn’t realize that the Doctor was attempting to lure out the criminal who had been killing their babies and causing the town’s troubles. 

The Doctor paced off the distance from the boardwalk to the black pyramid, took a few measurements, then nodded to himself and returned to the Saloon where the deputy was locking the accumulated guns in Reggie’s safe behind the bar. 

“Doctor,” Rose whispered urgently, tugging him into the lee of the stairs, “I know you’re trying to stop Kokopelli from repairing that ring in the mines, but what are we going to do with him once we’ve got him?” 

The Doctor shrugged. “Dunno.” 

She glared at him. 

“One thing at a time, Rose. First let’s make sure we’re not about to be innundated with a harey problem.” She grimaced at the pun. “We can only hope the regeneration of the ring isn’t an automatic process, otherwise it won’t matter if we’re keeping him busy here.” 

“You’re not building my confidence,” she protested. 

“Well, it’s likely not automatic. Intrastructural engineering is a tricky process. Needs brains. We stop him fixing the ring, we stop the invasion.” 

“I got that bit, but what are we going to _do_ with him?” 

He shrugged and grinned. “Improvise.” 

She rolled her eyes. 

Billie ran over and jerked on the Doctor’s sleeve. He’d somehow insinuated himself into the saloon crowd. “Are you really gonna have a showdown with my rabbit?” he asked in breathless tones, eyes large. “Can I have his skin when you shoot him?” 

“Billie!” Rose protested. 

“I’m not going to shoot him, Billie Jo,” the Doctor said. 

“Yeah,” Billie nodded sagely, “Ya ain’t got a gun. You could borrow the Marshall’s.” he said in sudden inspiration, brightening. 

“I don’t need a gun. I’ve got this.” The Doctor flourished his sonic screwdriver. 

Billie’s face scrunched up. “Your dowsing rod?” 

Reggie and Earp joined them by the stairs, listening to the conversation. 

“Well, all he’s got is a flute,” the Doctor pointed out. 

“But how are you gonna quick draw if you got it in your pocket? You need a holster!” Brightening, the boy ran over to the bar where a pile of holsters sat on the bar above the safe. He grabbed up a flashy black, silver-studded one and ran back, brandishing it in triumph like a flag. “Here ya go. Now you’re ready for a proper showdown.” 

The Doctor looked at the excited boy, looked at the holster and suddenly grinned a huge grin. “You’re right, Billie. As an old enemy of mine once said, It’s best to dress for the occasion.” 

Rose stared at the Doctor, recognizing that little boy enthusiasm that took him over from time to time. She watched as he strapped on the holster. For a man who didn’t like guns, he seemed to have a disturbing familiarity with how to tie on a gunbelt. She watched him prop his boot on one of the chairs and tie the string around his long thigh. 

He stood up with a grin, twirled his sonic screwdriver and holstered it with a flourish. 

“Yeah!” Billie punched the air then ran outside to get a good seat. 

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Earp and Rose said at the same time. 

Reggie shoved a glass of sarsparilla in his hand and watched him gulp it down in one swig. She took the glass back. “Let’s get this show on the road,” she said. 

———— 

Outside, the street was lined with people who’d come out of the shops and businesses. The atmosphere was tense, less circus-like than before. Word had spread that this was an attempt to capture the person who had been causing the babies dying, the feuds, and the mine collapse. 

Groups of men had gathered at the entrances of all the side streets, others leaned warily on the boardwalk pillars, alert. No one had had time to go home for their guns. But a few of the men were fingering lasso’s. 

Even the Doctor looked a bit taken aback by the turnout. 

“This could get dicey,” Rose said. 

The Doctor nodded. He reached into his duster and pulled out the triangular device he’d taken from the Tardis. Lights twinkled on the surface. He handed it to her. “Take this and attach it to the base of the pyramid, press this button, then back off. But keep close. Have you got your earplugs?” 

Rose nodded. He handed her the device and waved her toward the pyramid. He strode out to the center of the street, several yards away, and turned to face the black boulder. He swept his duster back behind his sonic holster. 

The crowd hushed.


	13. Chapter 13

Rose attached the device to the underside of the polyhedron. She looked at the Doctor. He nodded. She thumbed on the button then sprinted back to the boardwalk.

There was a low, subsonic thrum, almost like a sound, but not a sound. People shifted and looked at each other uncomfortably. Something had changed. There was a feeling, like a toothache, all through their bodies. Even Rose felt it. She touched her ears in worry, checking that her earplugs were still in. They were, but the feeling persisted.

Kokopelli appeared on the boulder.

“What the hell?!” someone in the crowd shouted. People exclaimed and shrank back. 

The creature was three feet tall, mangy grey-brown, with long ratty ears almost as tall as it was. It sat hunched on the boulder, its all too human eyes startled, then peering out at them malevolently. Its triangular rabbitlike head pulled in, hunching its shoulders defensively against the crowd’s gaze.

It was an evil desert hare. Unnatural. The sort of mad spirit the Indians told horror stories about. 

Men’s boots shuffled on the boardwalks, inching back, women whimpered. Wyatt Earp made a loud exclamation and gripped his gun. Rose grabbed his hand on the hilt and shook her head at him. Rose saw Billie leaning forward intently at his seat on the boardwalk steps, beyond him the adults looked repelled.

“Kokopelli!” the Doctor’s voice blasted out like a trumpet call.

Rose’s attention flashed to the rabbit as its gaze locked on the Doctor.

“Yes. I know who you are,” the Doctor answered its startled look. “It’s time to end this.”

The rabbit’s gaze drifted away from the Doctor, insolently. Then it exploded off the rock. It hopped three great bounds toward the Doctor. Jumped sideways. And disappeared.

And reappeared on the boulder. 

Everyone gasped. Babble broke out. 

The rabbit looked surprised. It looked down at the faceted magnetite beneath it, then glared up accusingly at the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned. “You’re not going anywhere.”

The rabbit lifted its flute to its lips. 

The Doctor drew his sonic screwdriver. 

————

Rose realized the danger almost too late. “Sheriff! Reggie! Cover your ears!” She looked around for something to use but found nothing. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She lifted her skirts and ripped loose a long strip of her petticoats. She tore it in small sections, wadding up the pieces of cloth. She could hear the soft seductive music building behind her. 

She turned to find the sheriff reaching for Reggie. The saloon owner seemed only too willing to return the embrace, their eyes hot. Rose jumped up the boardwalk and barged between them, separating them. Wyatt’s hands slid up her side instead and closed on her breasts. She slapped him, hard. He staggered back, cheek livid, looking shocked. She shoved the cloth in his hands while his eyes were clear. “It’s the rabbit, the flute!” she shouted. “Put these in your ears!” There was a lot of moaning going on around them. 

Rose turned to find Reggie wrapped in the arms of one of the miners. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Rose tore her away and shoved more cloths at her, repeating the shouted instructions she’d given Earp. 

The miner, deprived of his first playmate, grabbed Rose from behind. With an exasperated roll of her eyes she elbowed him in the gut and stamped on his foot. As he hopped around she turned and pushed him, right over Billie who was kneeling behind his back. The man went sprawling. 

Billie stood up and looked around him. “Everybody’s gone mad!” he yelled over the noise. Rose looked around. Men had women pushed up against the wooden walls, kissing and pulling up skirts. A few of the women were doing their part for equal opportunity by ripping open vests and shirts. Buttons flew everywhere. Rose felt like putting her hands over Billy’s eyes, but the boy was just staring around, appalled. She shoved the last of her cloth to him. “Stuff that in your ears,” she ordered. 

She turned back to the Doctor, standing in the street, fiddling with his sonic screwdriver. “Do something!” she yelled.

“I am!” he yelled back. She could see his thumb working as he ran through the settings.

She could hear the rabbit’s flute, the beautiful sensuous sound. But fortunately it didn’t affect her. She could hear the grating, up and down fluctuations of the sonic screwdriver as the Doctor searched for the right frequency. 

“There!” 

A piercing squeal of feedback flashed through the town, making everyone flinch. The sound of the rabbit’s flute cut off. 

Rose turned to look, but the rabbit was still playing. It scowled, and played harder, she could see its cheeks puffing out as it blew, but no sound came out. It glared at the Doctor. 

The townspeople pulled back from their partners, blushed fiery red, mumbled apologies and curses, and avoided each others eyes as they righted clothes and took self-conscious steps away from one another. Although Rose did notice one young couple, still wrapped up in one another, slip around the corner into the alley. 

Voices raised in protest and anger. Their attention turned to the rabbit on the stone. The crowd started to advance, muttering in outrage, there was the sound of wood splintering as someone broke off a club from a section of boardwalk railing. 

The rabbit twitched, resettled itself and gave the Doctor a sly look. The sound changed. A low keening started, a soft moaning sound that built into the woman crying/cat screeching sound of a cougar. The crowd stopped, looked at each other, and started to back away. They looked around jerkily, eyes widening, hands trembling, the hairs on their nape standing up as sound piled on sound. Screaming wind, although there was no wind. Shrieking wildcat. Sobbing woman. Sounds that grated, stripped the nerves raw. Low keening sounds of human terror were added to the mix as people drew together in knots, backing away. Staring around wildly to find the direction the danger came from. Dustdevils kicked up in front of them, kicking rocks and sand into their face. A howling wind blew, scouring the street and everyone in it. People screamed, women threw their hands over their faces. Half the people broke and ran. 

Billie clung to Rose’s waist, hiding his face in her side, trembling. Rose saw the Doctor standing like a pillar in the center of the street, his black duster flying around him as he was enveloped in a stinging whirlwind. 

He thumbed the sonic screwdriver and held it out. The blue tip the only color in that beige cyclone. The dust shattered and fell. The sound ceased. All around them, was the sound of panting, terrified humans. 

“Enough!” The Doctor stalked out of the dying whirlwind. And the sound changed again. 

Kokopelli sat on his pyramid, puffing quick little sharp notes into his flute. But what came out was not sharp or frightening, but spritely. A jigging, happy, circus tune of a song. Even with her earplugs Rose found herself grinning. Billie’s arms loosened around her and he looked up. A smile blossomed on his face. He turned to the boulder and started laughing. 

The rabbit had hopped down from its perch and was now doing a sprightly little dance in front of the magnetite. His big bunny feet tapping out an Irish reel, hopping in a complex scottish jig. Even while playing the flute Rose could see its mouth lifted in a smile, dancing around in delight like a children’s fairy tale. Everyone laughed. 

They roared with laughter, tears coming to their eyes. They doubled over giggling. Some were literally rolling on the ground in mirth. Even Rose burbled out a surprised laugh as Billie reached up and tickled her. He was laughing hard, his eyes sparkling, tears streaming down his cheeks as he giggled. The rags in his ears hung loose down his neck. 

Rose’s head jerked up. She looked around the town. People were scattered all across the street. Some literally sprawled in the street. People were holding their sides, in stitches, laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe. Gasping. Faces red from laughing. Almost blue. 

“Doctor!” she yelled in horrified realization. She turned. To find the Doctor laughing. 

—————

He was grinning that huge innocent grin that made him so beautiful. His grey eyes blazing blue the way they did when he was happy. His cheeks were grinning so hard they must hurt. Tears of mirth streaked down his face. His arms hung limply at his sides, his head tilted back as he laughed with all his heart. 

It was horrible. 

Rage tore through Rose. She turned to find Wyatt Earp leaning on a post beside her, bent over laughing. His mustache dribbling with snot as he was helpless before the sprightly music. 

Rose ripped his gun out of his holster and shot the rabbit. 

Or tried to. The gun was heavy and the shot dropped short, kicking up a clot of dirt at the hare’s feet. But a stone from the clot struck the rabbit’s knee, stinging enough to make it stagger and lose the tune for a moment.

“Kokopelli!” the Doctor roared. The Time Lord surged forward, the sonic screwdriver whirring, the amplified grating sound blanking out the rabbit’s resumed song, and adding adrenaline to the worn townsfolk who staggered upright from their exhausted, hilarious sprawls. 

The rabbit frantically hopped back onto its boulder and struck up a new song. A new sound full of grating and cacophony and jarring notes that Rose remembered from the gunfight. 

“Get him!” Rose instinctively surged forward at that anonymous cry. Toward the rabbit. But the man’s voice, behind her, cried again in rage. “She’s my wife, you bastard!”

Rose turned in shock to see a shopkeeper attacking a miner. A miner she had earlier seen amorously pressing a woman up against the glass windows of the shop behind him. The shopkeeper’s white sleeved arms bunched under their red gartered armbands as he fastened his hands around his enemy’s neck. The other man struck out with his fist, clouting the shopkeeper in the side of the head. 

Rose turned at hearing other sounds of violence. Men and women who had just seconds ago been too drained to move were now attacking each other. Two women were involved in a full blown rolling catfight in the middle of the street. Billie ran past her, murder on his face as he raised a rock, aiming it at the only other boy in the crowd. Rose grabbed his arm and yanked, making him drop the stone. He turned and kicked her in the shin. She cursed and hopped. He twisted away and ran at the other boy, tackled him, and started punching him. 

Everywhere, people were fighting each other. Groups tore at each other in clustered melees. Individuals pounded on each other or chased one another with blood in their eye. 

No one was paying attention to the rabbit. The horrible music beat at the air as surely as the people beat at one another. The Doctor was frantically adjusting and readjusting his sonic screwdriver. A man snuck up behind him and slammed a chair down across the Time Lord’s back. The chair splintered. The Doctor fell.

“Doctor!” Ignoring the chaos around her, Rose ran. 

She saw another man tackle the Doctor’s attacker, shoving the bigger man aside and planting a haymaker in his jaw. Rose only partially realized it was Joss the little mine supervisor, before she dropped down beside the Doctor. The blow had knocked the sonic screwdriver out of his hand. But he was already pushing himself up onto his knees, shaking his head. His hat had rolled off. A splinter stuck out of his hair, and a thin line of blood trickled down to his eyebrow. “Rose?”

“Yes. I’m here.”

“Where’s the screwdriver?”

She turned and scrambled sideways in her skirts and scooped it up. Behind the Doctor she saw Joss, still kneeling astride his victim. The miner had a short candle in his hand. He struck a match off the sole of his boot and lit the candle. The wick caught, fizzing and spitting sparks.

Rose’s eyes grew enormous as she realized. The Doctor saw the look and turned. 

Joss held up the half stick of dynamite, twisted and threw it at the rabbit. The dynamite arched over their heads. 

“NO!” The Doctor scooped up Rose and lunged toward the boulder, tackling the rabbit. The dynamite hit, exploded. 

And the world went silver.


	14. Chapter 14

Silver. 

All eternity, silver. 

Rose fell backward out of a silver eternity, only to find herself in the dust in the middle of Tombstone Arizona. As the town burned around her. 

People screamed. Sparks landed close, as an unpredictable, thermal prompted wind swirled around them. Choking, ash clogged air. She blinked ash and dirt out of her eyes and looked around to find herself lying beside the black magnetite boulder, her legs tangled with the Doctor’s as they lay on either side of the pyramid. The rabbit, Kokopelli, lay sprawled bonelessly atop the stone, looking like a broken child’s toy. 

But even as she watched, an ear twitched. A moan sounded and something jerked at her legs. She realized the Doctor was coming to on the other side of the rock. “Rose?” he said muzzily, worry and concern in his voice. She was warmed by the sound, by the knowledge that she was the first thing he thought of. 

“I’m all right. What happened?”

She looked around as the wind blew the veil of smoke aside and she found herself looking at, not the Inferno, which is what the various sounds and screams had sounded like. But a half destroyed town of Tombstone. The boardwalk on the far side of the street was gutted, two buildings completely gone, looking like the black gap left by rotting teeth. 

Bucketchains of people threw pails of water on the next building, as it collapsed in on itself. Glass bent and shattered as the frames warped, even before the fire got to them. Cries of woe and shouts of orders and cussing and the stomp of running feet underscored the townsfolks frantic attempts to save their town. 

“What happened?” Rose said again, unbelieving. She turned to look in shock at the Doctor who had struggled to a sitting position on the other side of the rock. Kokopelli sat up between them, looking like a harmless, if motheaten, bunny rabbit. “We were only knocked out for a minute,” Rose protested. 

“Longer than a minute,” the Doctor said unhelpfully, nodding to where Reggie was frantically throwing pails of water on the fire that was licking up one of the dry wooden posts supporting the boardwalk roof in front of her saloon. 

“They’re back!” A shriek of rage split the sooty air and Rose jerked upright, the sound slashing across her nerves like a whip. She instinctively lifted a hand to her ear, she’d lost one of her earplugs somewhere. 

But it wasn’t Kokopelli’s flute that caused the horrible sound. It was a woman, stalking toward them through the smoke, dressed all in black lace, like a vision out of a Victorian nightmare. Rose stared in disbelief. It was Mattie Blaylock. The bereaved, bedridden mother she’s seen at the funeral just yesterday. 

“Kill it!” the woman shrieked. People in the street turned from their frantic firefighting efforts at the sound. Everyone’s attention focused on the magnetite as the woman stalked vengefully forward. The woman was in a rage, unreasoning, focused exclusively on the rabbit perched on the black stone. “Baby killer!” she shrieked.

Kokopelli huddled down on the stone, looking like simply a frightened bunny. Others of the townsfolk followed the woman, emerging from the smoke like vengeful zombies. All intent on the group around the stone. Some carried charred pieces of lumber as clubs. Others looked ready to do barehanded violence.

The Doctor edged around the stone toward Rose, interposing himself between her, and Kokopelli, and the crowd. 

“We don’t want any trouble,” he said calmly. 

There was the ominous sound of a gun cocking. They turned to see Wyatt Earp emerge from the smoke, his gun already trained on the rabbit. 

“No Doctor. We’ve already had trouble.” The sheriff calmly raised his gun. The Doctor turned and hugged Rose to him, his hand grabbing under her breast. 

“What?!” she squeaked.

She felt a click, heard a shot, and a blue bubble popped into existence around her, the Doctor, and the rabbit. The bullet bounced harmlessly away. 

The Doctor stepped back and grinned. She looked up and around at the perfect globe of swirling blue energy around them. The thrill of his arms around her clashed with the realization of what he’d done. She shoved him. “Oh, the vest _or_ a forcefield, huh?” She slapped him on the arm. He just grinned wider. 

“Come on.” He turned to the sheriff. “I’m sorry, Wyatt, but I can’t let you kill him.” He took Rose’s arm and started walking off, her beside him. The forcefield parted around the magnetite boulder, leaving it behind. But Kokopelli hopped along close after them, protected within the sphere. “You might want to move Virgil out of the saloon before the fire spreads,” the Doctor said as they passed the staring sheriff, his mouth hanging open, his drooping mustache only emphasizing the expression. 

Mattie flung herself at the force bubble, screaming and clawing at the invisible walls. Tears streaming down her cheeks. Rose turned away. She couldn’t blame the woman. She’d lost her child. That was enough to make anyone mad. 

Seeing that his wife was only doing herself injury Wyatt grabbed her from behind and pulled her away, gently, but firmly. She struggled in his grip, screaming and crying. The sound dimmed as the Doctor continued on through town. 

Smoke curled up and away from the bubble, parting in its wake. Rose noticed that the swirling blue energy seemed to be circling over and down around them, as if they were rolling along inside a giant hamster ball. 

Townsfolk stopped their firefighting efforts to stare as they passed. The glowing blue bubble the only color in this ash smeared world. 

“Can’t we help them?” Rose asked, seeing people and possessions being evacuated out of one side of the buildings, while others fought the fire on the other side. 

“No. Tombstone was meant to burn. It’s recorded history. There’s nothing we can do here,” the Doctor said. 

They walked, unimpeded, back to the livery stable yard where the Tardis sat. The bubble was too wide to get through the fence doors, so the Doctor reached over and clicked the pressure button under Rose’s breast again. She jumped. “Oh, you are so going to pay for that,” she said. He just grinned at her and led them through the fence. 

————

Kokopelli followed them into the yard and walked behind them into the Tardis. 

“Why is he being so nice all of a sudden?” Rose asked.

The rabbit followed the Doctor to the console and stood patiently, watching as the Doctor set coordinates and the time rotor engaged. Both aliens turned to look at her at the same time. 

“He was always nice, Rose,” the Doctor defended. The rabbit looked shamefaced. The Doctor patted him on his narrow shoulder. “It’s not his fault the humans were destroying his gate. He’s linked to it, it was driving him a little bit mad. He was just defending himself.”

Rose gawped. “What about the invasion?!” she asked, flinging her arms wide.

“Oh that,” the Doctor answered dismissively, shucking off his black duster and tossing it over the pilot chairs. He rolled up his shirtsleeves. 

“Yes, _that_ ,” she said in indignation. “We can’t just let the town burn and be overrun. Not to mention the Earth!” She glared at the rabbit for good measure. 

The rabbit looked up at her with innocent sincerity. 

“The town was always destined to burn this year,” the Doctor said, “and the invasion happened 20,000 years ago.”

“What?!”

The Doctor started working at the controls, they weren’t the ones that controlled their flight, Rose had gotten to know which panels controlled what over time. But he was definitely up to something. 

“His people came here 20,000 years ago. They were refugees, from a war. They hid here, on Earth, until the war was over and they got word it was safe to go back. Koko stayed behind, he’s an anthropologist, he was fascinated by the local natives.”

“What, us ‘stupid apes’?” Rose said mockingly.

“Yeah, well, you stupid apes have a lot going for you,” the Doctor said, refusing to look at her. “Besides, he likes it here. He’s been looking after the local ‘red people’ for a long time.”

Rose crossed her arms, giving him a glare. “How do you know all this?”

“He told me.” The Doctor looked down at the rabbit. The rabbit perked up and smiled. 

“When? How?”

“When we were cycling through the ring,” the Doctor said. 

Rose looked at him blankly. She looked down at the rabbit, who was managing to look cute and innocent. “In the mines?” she asked, her voice, doubtful, she knew she was missing something. 

The Doctor stood up straight from bending over the console. “No, just before the dynamite went off he jumped into the ley lines. But since I’d set up the Tardis’s electromagnetic deflectors to draw the ley lines off course and loop them back on the boulder, there was nowhere he could go, so he shunted us all into the ring. We had a nice chat while we were cycling.”

“Silver,” Rose said with sudden realization. “Mattie Blaylock said, ‘They’re back.’ So we really did disappear?”

“Yup.”

Rose turned to look at the rabbit. “And you’re just a harmless scientist who stayed to study humans?”

The rabbit nodded eagerly. 

“But... 20,000 years!” she said, aghast. “There weren’t even any humans _in_ America back then!” she accused with sudden suspicion. 

“Yes, there were,” the Doctor said, leaning a hip on the console and crossing his arms in lecture mode. “The ancestors of the Anasazi and the Mound Builders. Civilizations rise and fall Rose, you know that. Actually,” the Doctor turned to look at Kokopelli, “that must have been a fascinating study. How did...”

Before the Doctor could go off on a longwinded professorial chat Rose butted in, “But, 20,000 years!” She waved a hand down at the friendly, but mangy, rabbit. “He can’t be 20,000 years old!”

The Doctor looked up at her, “Why not? I’m almost 1,000.”

Rose’s head jerked back, startled. She stared at him, this short haired, short tempered friend of hers. She knew he was 900, but somehow she’d never equated that with him being nearly 1,000. It was a a bit shocking. “Yeah, but...”

“I told you, there are races to whom a few months would be nothing. Time is relative, so is age. But still,” his attention turned back to Kokopelli. “To watch an entire civilization develop... I haven’t done anything like that since I was a kid,” he said with nostalgia.

Rose stared at him. “You never...”

He turned to look at her, standing beside another old alien who studied other races. That one hip high with long ears. “What do you think Time Lords did?” he said. 

“Anyway...” she began, her mind bogging down as she tried to digest the concept. “ _Anyway_ ,” she said more forcefully, determined to get the conversation back on track, “what are we going to do now? The town is burning, the ring is almost broken, and he is still guilty of killing babies.”

The rabbits ears jerked straight up, he stared at her in shock, then his ears wilted down and he looked at her with large sorrowful eyes. 

“Rose,” the Doctor chided her.

“Well, he is!”

The rabbit turned to study the Tardis console, lifting up on tiptoes to see the controls, he skipped sideways on the tips of his long feet and laid his paws on two disks that sat side by side on the far panel. 

“I did not kill the children.” 

The strangely soothing, baritone voice reverberated in her head, transferred by the Tardis telepathic circuits. Rose turned to the rabbit who was looking at her, a mournful expression in his eye. He looked comical standing there, a bunny standing on tiptoe with its paws on the controls of a spaceship, its long ears sticking up above. But it’s voice was not comical, Rose could feel the sorrow and regret in it. 

“I blighted the gardens, urged on the feuds, and sabotaged the mines trying to get the Europeans to leave, but I never harmed a child.”

“It’s true Rose,” the Doctor said. “Reggie admitted it herself. Malnutrition, bad luck, and drugs were the culprits, not Koko.”

“Drugs?” Rose asked, her attention drawn from the rabbit.

“Mattie Blaylock was well known to be addicted to opium. It wasn’t just grief that kept her in her bed,” the Doctor said, eyes sad, reminding her of the overheard conversation between Virgil and Wyatt. 

“Oh.” Rose deflated. She turned back to the rabbit. “I’m sorry. And I suppose you were just trying to defend your gate for the rest, you even scared the miners out before collapsing the tunnel. Except for the other seam...” she gave him a questioning look.

The rabbits ears twitched in self-derision, “I couldn’t control the collapse as well as I’d hoped,” his strangely young voice echoed in her head. “I didn’t mean to collapse the junction, only the new seam.”

“Yeah, well,” Rose shrugged, and grinned. “I doubt I could have done better with just a flute.” She suddenly realized the flute was tucked behind his ear as he used both hands on the Tardis console. She forced back a silent laugh, but he must have heard her through the circuits. He waggled his ears at her, setting the flute bobbing. 

Okay, _now_ she could believe he was an absentminded anthopologist. 

“Right,” she said, stiffling her laughter. It was impossible not to like the impudent, apparently kindhearted, little alien. She could feel that through the circuits too. His kindness. She wondered what the Doctor felt from her when the Tardis was translating her words. “What are we going to do with you? Can we take you home?” She waved at the Tardis.

“NO!”

She jumped at the force of the telepathic shout. He fidgetted and resettled his hands on the disks, “I cannot leave yet. My people need me more now than ever!”

“Your people?” Rose shook her head, envisioning a civilization of high tech rabbits. She looked at the Doctor for clarification. 

“The Native Americans,” he answered. “This is a turning point for them, in history.”

“Yes,” Kokopelli said. “I cannot abandon them now. That’s why I need the ring repaired. I need the gate working. I can’t just stay here and guard it against the Europeans, I need to be able to travel. My people are being herded out of their ancestral lands, their children are being stolen, the old ways are being lost. They need me.”

“You consider the Indians your people? You don’t _want_ to go home?” Rose said. “But you’re all alone here.”

The Doctor walked up to her. “No, he’s not.” He cupped his large hand around her face, his whole manner gentle, his eyes dark and deep and very loving. “He has his people. Just like I’ve got you.” He saw the startled wonder in her eyes. “What? You thought I was the only alien who liked humans?” He grinned. He dropped a chaste little kiss on her surprised mouth. 

She stood stunned.

“Right!” The Doctor clapped his hands and turned to Kokopelli. “I think I can help you. The problem is that you need a functioning hyperphase gate, but the miners aren’t going to stop mining it. I can fix that.”

“You can repair my gate?”

“No. Better. I can make you a new one, somewhere where the European colonists will never get their hands on it. Someplace set aside just for your people.” He started dancing around the console, flipping switches and pulling levers. 

“Have you ever seen the Spider Woman, Rose?”

“No. I’ve seen Spider-Man though.”

The Doctor flashed her that big grin. 

—————

“Spider Woman Mesa.” The Doctor pulled up a picture of two tall sandstone monoliths and a rocky desert cliff on the monitor. “Sacred ground of the Navaho. It’s a reservation in your time, Rose. Known for its fantastic thunderstorms, and it just so happens to be situated on a major node of the ley lines. Perfect place for a bit of intrastructural engineering.”

He panned out and around to show a narrow, fertile valley and high red cliff walls. 

“That’s beautiful.” Rose said. 

“Yes, and I think that area there would be good,” he said, flipping the monitor to an underground scan and pointing to an area with the same type of ribbon sheets Rose had seen from their first scan of the hyperphase gate. “What do you think, Koko?” the Doctor asked, rotating the view and considering it from different angles. 

Kokopelli dropped his hands from the telepathic circuits and considered the monitor. It was probably a good thing she couldn’t hear his reply, Rose thought, as the two aliens leaned their heads together. The technical jargon spilling from the Doctor’s mouth was enough to make her eyes cross. 

Rose shook her head and tromped out of the console room, leaving the boys to it. She was eager to get out of her dirty, smoky-smelling dress and back into some decent jeans. And a cup of tea would be nice.

————

Rose returned to the console room wearing her own comfortable clothes, carrying a tray piled high with the roughcut sandwiches she knew the Doctor liked, with a big bowl of salad greens for Kokopelli. Ice clinked in the cold-sweating pitcher of orange juice that weighted the tray and she set the whole thing down on the jumpseat, causing the glasses to clink. 

The Doctor looked up from the repair well, where he was lying, half stuffed under the console with Kokopelli handing him his tools. “Food! Rose Tyler, you’re a genius!”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a busy day. Even alien tech-heads need to eat sometime.”

The Doctor scrambled out of the stairwell, all boots and long legs, and threw himself down on the chair beside the tray. Fortunately Rose was holding the pitcher, pouring glasses of orange juice. She passed one to Kokopelli and he took it in his clever little, racoon-like hands. The Doctor grabbed an apple slice from the salad bowl and popped it into his mouth, crunching happily. 

“Oi! Those are for him,” she nodded her head at the rabbit. 

The Doctor shrugged, and talked, his mouth still full, “I’ll share.” He handed Kokopelli a cheese sandwich. 

Before Rose could protest, the rabbit bit into the sandwich with every evidence of enjoyment and sat down in a sprawl on the floor, his big feet splayed out, carefully setting his glass of orange juice beside him. 

“So,” the Doctor said, swallowing a bite of his sandwich and propping his feet up on the Tardis console, “I think we’re about set. We’ve reconfigured the silver in the area into a new ring, and as soon as I release the leylines in Tombstone back to their original configurations, it should power up a treat. You’ll be able to travel anywhere you want again,” he nodded at Kokopelli and filched another apple slice out of the bowl.

The rabbit nodded and cocked his head at the Doctor, his ears flopping to one side. 

“No. The size difference won’t matter,” the Doctor answered the silent question. He nodded at the scanner screen which showed a schematic of a hyperphase gate, the main ring with its attached inner offset circles and the hair fine spirals reaching above and below. “You only needed the size for the evacuation.” The Doctor leaned forward and tapped a button and another view popped up, showing the Tombstone hyperphase gate. Rose’s eyebrows jumped in surpise. The Tombstone gate was two miles wide, but the new one they were building was only a few meters across. 

“Are you sure that’s gonna work?” she asked.

“Yeah. It doesn’t need to be huge. The node here under Spider Woman is stronger than the one under Tombstone. And I’ve added a few refinements.” He turned to Kokopelli, who had leaned sideways and was looking at the monitor. “You’ll have the same range as the big gate, able to reach anywhere on the planet, and still get you back home if you want. But small enough so it’s less likely to be found. ” He shut down the monitor and leaned back, stretching, sighing. He clapped his hands on his knees. “Come on, let's get this finished. After the last couple of days, even I’m starting to feel in need of a nap.” 

————

They materialized back in Tombstone on a side street. The Doctor, Rose, and Kokopelli stepped out into smoke laden winds, the shouts and roar of the fire could still be heard, even here. Houses and kitchen gardens lined both sides of the street. There was no one in sight, apparently everyone was still fighing the fire. 

A wind driven cinder landed on Rose’s arm and she batted it off, stomping it out in the dirt before it could catch anything on fire. “The fire’s still burning?” she asked in dismay. 

“Only a couple of minutes have passed here. I need to recover the reflector focus and loose the ley lines back into their normal channels. It’s not a good idea to keep them diverted for long. It’s like playing with the planets nerve endings. Not a good idea.”

“That’s what caused that weird feeling? Before Koko showed up? I thought it was something to do with him.”

“No, you probably felt the magnetic force shifting. Now, the problem is, how do we get the focus back without being seen?”

\---------

The Doctor, Rose, and Kokopelli leaned out from behind the easternmost building in the high street, closest to the hill with the tree where they had first seen Kokopelli. The fire was concentrated mostly at the western end of town. The fire on the south side of the street was out, having died when the last building by the gutted section had collapsed. But it was still burning brightly on the north side of the street. The Last Chance Saloon was already starting to go up. The fire from the post had spread to the roof of the boardwalk and from there to the roof of the saloon. 

“Oh, poor Reggie!” Rose said. 

“Don’t worry. They’ll rebuild. She’ll put up a new stone saloon and dance hall that becomes the most famous in the region.”

That made Rose feel a little better. But she still felt sorry for all the people running around, frantically trying to save their property. She saw a group of people struggling out of the saloon doors, half bent over something they were carrying between them, trying to shield it from falling cinders. She realized it was Wyatt Earp, moving his brother Virgil from the second floor room where he’d been recovering from his gunshot wound. 

The black magnetite pyramid still sat in the middle of the street in front of the saloon.

“How are we going to get there without being seen?” Rose asked, as they leaned out around the side of the building. Kokopelli’s ears perked up as he saw a small, black-smeared shape dart across the street in front of the saloon. The rabbit made a burbling sound, hopped twice, jumped sideways, and disappeared. And reappeared on the pyramid. 

“Awp!” Rose reached forward instinctively, as if she could snatch him back out of danger. But the rabbit jumped off the stone, bounded forward, grabbed the boy and jumped back on the stone. Both disappeared.

“What did he do?” Rose squeaked. “He didn’t cycle Billie into that ring like he did us did he? He can’t _go_ anywhere else with the focus on!” Rose almost yelled in despair. She felt something grab her from behind and shrieked. 

She turned to find Billie clutching her frantically around the waist, his sooty body getting her fresh jeans all dirty. “Help, Rose!” he yelled, trembling as he used her body as a shield and edged away from the rabbit behind him, which was twitching its ears at him. 

Rose let out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god.” She reached down and hugged Billie. “It’s all right, Billie. He isn’t going to hurt you.” 

Billie looked up at her with wide, terrified eyes. “He snatched me! All the times I chased him he never done that, he always ran away.” His eyes latched onto the oversized rabbit, half turning his face into her shirt as if he didn’t really want to see it.

“Well, I told you before. He’s not really a rabbit,” Rose said. “And we need your help. Don’t we Doctor?” 

The Doctor nodded. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down at the boy. “Kokopelli is a person, Billie. Just like you or me. But he’s also a Hopi kachina. Do you know what that is?”

Billie stared up at the Doctor at this unexpected change in the conversation, unconsciously he relaxed, loosening his grip on Rose. “You mean, like those stories Sighs Running tells?” The boy frowned in thought and looked at the rabbit. “Kokopelli?” he turned the name over on his tongue. “You mean, that hunchback spirit that’s supposed to go around playing his flute and making people happy?”

Kokopelli shrugged his hunched shoulders and held up his flute, twitching his ears. 

Billie’s eyes widened in realization. 

An explosion rocked the ground, startling them all. 

“What the hell?!” Rose said. They all jumped out from behind the building looking off down the street where one of the buildings had exploded, debris rained down into the street as the building collapsed in on itself. 

“They don’t have enough water,” the Doctor explained. “They’re dynamiting the buildings to stop the fire.”

Whirling corkscrews of shattered timber fell around the magnetie boulder, bouncing off its black facets with strange pinging noises. 

“If that gets any closer, you can kiss your focusing device goodbye,” Rose said, turning to the Doctor. The Doctor was looking down at Billie. 

“Billie, do you remember that funny looking triangle I had Rose stick onto the pyramid?”

“Oh, no, Doctor,” Rose grabbed Billie by the shoulders and pulled him back against her. “You’re not using him for this. He’ll get killed.”

The Doctor turned to her. “It’s not like they’re detonating constantly. He’ll come to no harm. Give me some credit.”

“Is that why he snatched me?” Billie asked, once more looking in fascination at the rabbit. Kokopelli was standing beside them, as upright as any man, observing the explosion site with a human’s curiosity, not scampering away like a frightened rabbit.

The rabbit nodded at him. 

Rose let out a huff. “If you could just appear on that rock, why didn’t you just grab the focusing device?” she said with exasperation. 

“He couldn’t, Rose,” the Doctor said. “It’s magnetically fixed. He’d have had to pick up the whole boulder.”

“Then how can I get it?” Billie asked, quite reasonably Rose thought. 

“With this.” The Doctor quick drew the sonic screwdriver from the holster he was still wearing, pointing it at Billie and buzzed the light at him. Billie grinned at him and quickdrew back, holding his fingers like a gun. He said, “pow!” and the Doctor staggered back, clutching his chest as if he’d been shot. The two boys giggled and grinned at each other. Rose rolled her eyes. 

“Why didn’t you just give the sonic screwdriver to Kokopelli?” Rose asked, annoyed. 

“Well, I didn’t know he was going to do that, now did I?” the Doctor asked innocently. “Besides, he can’t use it. Going out there once was risky enough, going out again, once they’ve already seen him would be suicide. They’ve got reason to want him dead.” He nodded to the frantically scrambling townsfolk. Most of them were at the far end of the street, trying to save what they could. But there were a couple of them who were still eyeing the boulder, even as they scrambled.

“Okay, I can see that.” The wind wafted a wall of smoke over them and Rose coughed. “How long before they get the fire out?”

The Doctor frowned. “I’m surprised they haven’t got it out by now.”

Kokopelli frowned and looked at the town, more than half the buildings were already destroyed, smoke, fire, and heat tainted the air. His ears drooped and he stared down, looking guilty. Then his ears jerked up and he lifted his face resolutely. He brought his flute to his mouth. 

“What’s he doing?” Billie said nervously, edging close to Rose, pressing against her side and clinging to her. He remembered what that flute had done before. 

Rose shook her head. “I don’t know.” 

The Doctor crossed his arms and looked satisfied.

Beautiful music. 

Billie and Rose stared. The most beautiful music they’d ever heard. Billie relaxed at her side, pulling away. The wind picked up, a soft wind, blowing the smoke away. Fresh air swirled around them. And a hint of moisture. 

They looked up. The pristine blue Arizona sky, was filling with clouds. 

Thunder grumbled, rumbling the ground without dynamite. 

And the first gentle raindrops fell.

—————

The first few drops dimpled the dusty, soot-speckled ground. Followed quickly by more, until a sliding white wall of rain slid across the town, dowsing fires as it went, soaking the townsfolk, sluicing off soot and dirt, turning the main street into a quagmire of mud that the townspeople screamed and laughed and danced in, turning their faces and their hats to the sky. Looking up with prayerful thanks. 

The Doctor, Rose and Billie were soaked to the skin. They stood there grinning. Kokopelli kept playing, doing a happy little dance in the rain.

“Right.” The Doctor crouched down and held the sonic screwdriver out to Billie. “Billie, run up to that boulder and hold this blue light up to that triangle. Push this little knob here, and it will make a sound, while it’s making the sound, push the white square and the tiny blue circle beside it on the triangle. It should drop off the boulder into your hand. Bring it back here.”

He stood up and handed the sonic screwdriver to the boy. Billie looked down at it, looked over at Kokopelli, still dancing, grinned, and ran down the street toward the boulder. 

—————

They were back in the side road, beside the Tardis. The rain had stopped. The fire had ended. And the Doctor had his focusing device and sonic screwdriver tucked back into his pocket. 

The borrowed gunbelt was hanging over Billie’s bare shoulder. Flowers bloomed in all the gardens around them. 

“Sorry about what I said, about skinning you,” Billie said, turning toward Kokopelli, who, ears included, was about his height. Billie held out a hand. Kokopelli held out his little raccoon paw and shook it. 

Billie turned back to the Doctor and Rose. “Well, you may not carry a gun, mister. But you sure do know how to make interesting things happen.” Billie gave him a mock punch in the stomach and the Doctor bent over, dramatically taking the blow. They smiled at each other. 

The boy turned and looked at Rose. “And he was right,” he cocked his head at the Doctor, “You’re no ordinary girl.” He grinned shyly, with a charm that would be wooing girls in years to come. He gave her a quick hug around the waist, then ran off. 

“Well, that’s it for Tombstone then,” the Doctor said. He turned and gave a slow look to this untouched, verdantly blooming corner of the town. He slipped the key into the Tardis lock. “They always do say, you can’t go back.”

Rose scowled at him, not quite sure if that was a pun. She turned to the rabbit. “You coming with us? We can drop you off back at Spider Woman Rock,” she offered.

Kokopelli shook his head, his ears waggling. He looked at the Doctor. The Doctor translated for him. 

“He says he’ll make his own way, Rose. He’s spent so much time here, guarding this gate, that he hasn’t had time to visit his people. He’ll make his way north, following the ley lines, visiting as he goes.” The Doctor smiled in understanding at his new furry friend. “The best route between two points is not always a straight line.” 

“Huh?” Rose said. 

“Never mind. Come on Rose, we’ve got places of our own to be.” The Doctor waved her into the Tardis. She rolled her eyes at him and knelt and gave the bunny a hug. He wiggled his whiskers in her ear and she laughed. She stood up and saw a teasing glint in the little alien’s eyes. 

“Bye!” she trotted to the Tardis, squeezing into the door past the Doctor. 

“You might want to watch out for him,” the Doctor warned, “He’s got a reputation as a ladies man.” Rose just laughed and continued on inside. 

The Doctor turned back to Kokopelli. “I hope you can help your people,” he said, with unaccustomed gravity. The rabbit nodded back somberly. Two of a kind, one in leather, one in fur. The Doctor gave a sharp nod, stepped back, and closed the door. 

Kokopelli watched, alone, in the street, as the Tardis groaned and started to fade. Suddenly it remateralized. The Doctor stuck his head out the door, grinning. “Oh, and remember...

"Turn left at Albuquerque.”

—

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